St Paul's Church, Hooton Explained

St Paul's Church, Childer Thorton
Pushpin Map:Cheshire
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Map Caption:Location in Cheshire
Country:England
Coordinates:53.2906°N -2.9509°W
Osgraw:SJ 367 775
Website:St Paul, Hooton
Heritage Designation:Grade II
Designated Date:17 May 1985
Architect:James K. Colling
Architectural Type:Church
Style:Romanesque Revival,
Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking:1858
Completed Date:1862
Construction Cost:£5,000
Materials:Red and white stone
Slate roofs
Parish:St Paul, Hooton
Deanery:Wirral South
Archdeaconry:Chester
Diocese:Chester
Province:York
Vicar:Rev Mark Turner

St Paul's Church is in the village of Hooton, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Wirral South, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the diocese of Chester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. The authors of the Buildings of England series describe it as "unquestionably one of the most spectacular churches of Cheshire".

History

The church was built between 1858 and 1862 to a design by James K. Colling for the Liverpool banker R. C. Naylor at a cost of £5,000 .

Architecture

Exterior

St Paul's is constructed in a mixture of red and white ashlar stone and red rock-faced stone. The roofs are slated. The plan of the church is cruciform. It consists of a three-bay nave, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, a chancel with north and south aisles continuing as an ambulatory, a west porch and a south porch. Above the crossing is the base of a dome rising from pendentives surmounted by a lantern with a short spire. Above the south porch is a detached belfry spire. The west porch is Romanesque in style, and above it is a rose window. Some of the other windows in the church are Romanesque, while others have pointed arches with plate tracery.

Interior

Inside the church the arcades are carried on Peterhead granite, with capitals in French Early Gothic style. The font is made from dark green serpentine. It dates from 1851, and gained a medal at the Great Exhibition that year. The stained glass includes windows by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, Clayton and Bell, and Kempe. The two-manual organ was built by Rushworth and Dreaper.

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of five World War II airmen, four British and one Australian.

See also