Church Heritage Record 603144

Nave with south porch (with tower and short spire) and north organ chamber. Shallow east chancel with north vestry.

There are no recorded prehistoric or Roman finds in Nelson, of which Little Marsden is now a part. The Nelson historic town assessment provides a history of the area. It explains that local place names suggest Anglo-Saxon settlement, although the earliest documentary evidence dates to the 12th century. At this time the two townships of Great and Little Marsden were in existence and were divided across two manors within the parish of Whalley. The name ‘Nelson’ was not used until the mid-19th century. The name was introduced by the East Lancashire Railway Company which opened a station at Hibson in 1849, after the Lord Nelson Inn, a local landmark.

By the medieval period the area was characterised by farming with some small-scale coal mining and, from the 14th century, some cloth manufacture. Common land was enclosed in the first half of the 17th century. Muslin manufacturing had been introduced by 1750. Spinning mills were built in the 18th century. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal opened in 1776, and turnpike roads in the late 18th century, both stimulating further growth of the cloth industry. The population of Nelson and its environs grew exponentially in the second half of the 19th century, and again following the arrival of the railway in 1849. Housing and mills also grew in number.

Little Marsden was once a separate village. The church, St Paul, stands at the centre of the historic settlement, the oldest surviving area around Nelson. It is surrounded by two-storey early 19th century stone houses with 18th century Grade II listed cottages to the west and an 18th century Grade II listed Chapel House farmhouse to the north. A set of 18th century stocks lies to the south of the church and are Grade II listed. To the south-west, the inn was in existence in 1772, though the current building is later. To the north-west, Church of England primary school was established as St Paul’s National School in 1834. The school retains its 19th century building but has grown with the addition of prefab extensions.

Victoria County History records that a small chapel stood on the site of St Paul’s before the Reformation and that a chalice was seized in 1547. The Nelson town assessment explains that St Paul’s was a chantry chapel, possibly of Whalley Abbey, and attributes it to the early 16th century. Chapel House, thought to date from the same time as the chapel and to have housed the chantry priest, was demolished in 1970 and its site has become part of the churchyard – a stone cross was recorded within its grounds. The chapel was pulled down and rebuilt in 1809 haven fallen into a poor state. It remained the only Anglican place of worship in Nelson until the mid-19th century.

Alterations were made from 1864 onwards. It seems a tower was added and galleries installed in 1864, with chancel and vestry by 1871. Spire possibly added 1874-5 and door moved from west end to south side. Poppyhead choir stalls 1882. Organ relocated from west gallery c.1892 (shortened galleries?) and east window installed.

A district was assigned to it in 1877. Parish combined with St Mary in 1999.

The archaeological potential of the site is moderate there having been an earlier church on the site, and this having been the historic centre of Little Marsden. There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot, though it contains mature trees.

The church has a simple rectangular plan with tall plain stone elevations and a shallow, gabled roof (stone cross finials to east and west gables) to which several blocky attachments have been added. These are a three-stage south tower with porch at ground level, a low, shallow, gabled chancel to the east with a small gabled vestry attached to its north, as well as a tall north organ chamber (its roofline continues inline with the north roofslope). Cast iron gutters remain in place beneath stone dentilled eaves. Some of the windows (those to south and east) have polycarbonate panels, those without have internal condensation.

The tower has emphasised quoins to the corners and a two-light window above the ground level roll-moulded doorway.  A blank roundel on the south side sits beneath louvred openings with hoodmoulds on each facet of the tower. At the upper most level is a zig-zag frieze just beneath the pyramidal turret.

The south elevation has two tiers of two-light Y-tracery pointed windows with square imposts and contrasting stone surrounds. A continuous sill runs beneath the upper tier of windows. The west wall is a virtually solid surface of stone with two two-light windows low in the wall and a small light high up. Evidence in the stonework indicates the location of an original west door. There are quoins to the south-west corner but not the north-west. On the north side long two-light windows span the ground and gallery floors. Towards the east end projects the tall blank stone wall of the organ chamber. At the east end, the small chancel has a three-light intersecting window. Different stonework beneath the window suggests it was once longer. The vestry, to the north side, has a pointed door with three steps up to it and pointed windows to either side.

Level access to the interior is provided through the porch in the base of the south tower. The inside space has a wooden roof and there is a metal outer gate. The interior door has a woodgrain effect. There are stairs just inside the interior set of doors leading up to the gallery.

The nave is a light (most of the windows are glazed with clear rectangular leaded panes), white-painted, five-bay space with galleries on three sides holding three rows of tiered seating. The panelled galleries are supported on iron columns with foliate capitals.  The seating in the nave is of fixed wood pews painted with a grained effect placed on slightly raised boarded platforms. The walls are panelled to the height of the pew-backs. An iron grate stretches along the central aisle with carpet either side and across the chancel floors (unsure of surface beneath). The ceiling is formed of lath and plaster with queen-post trusses with simple pendants. Flood-lights are fixed to the trusses. Walls are of wood panel and lime plaster.

The windows in the upper level have hoodmoulds to them. There is an upper room within the tower accessed from the gallery, and in the wall above its door is the hoodmould to a removed window (before the tower was built).

There is a slight step in the floor at the west end beneath the gallery where the font is located. The north-west corner has been partially cleared to accommodate a children’s play area and there is a storage room in the south-west corner beneath the stairs. The underside of the galleries are pitched with lights fixed to them.

The easternmost bay, before the chancel, is raised by a single step. It has the organ recessed behind an arch to the north and choir stalls with poppyheads facing each other to north and south. Through a low pointed chancel arch with hoodmould and floriated stops, is the small sanctuary. The altar and communion rails are raised by a step. The vestry is accessed through a doorway to the north side. A WC is positioned off the vestry.