St Paul's Church, Preston, Lancashire

St Paul's Church, Preston
St Paul's Church, Preston
Location in Preston
Coordinates: 53°45′45″N 2°41′39″W / 53.7624°N 2.6941°W / 53.7624; -2.6941
OS grid reference SD 543,298
Location St Paul's Square,
Preston, Lancashire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Architecture
Status Former parish church
Functional status Redundant
Heritage designation Grade II
Designated 28 March 1977
Architect(s) Thomas Rickman and
Henry Hutchinson
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking 1823
Completed 1882
Construction cost £6,221
Closed 1 January 1979
Specifications
Materials Sandstone, tiled roofs

St Paul's Church is a redundant Anglican parish church in St Paul's Square, Preston, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.[1] It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.[2]

The building now houses two radio stations.

History

St Paul's was built between 1823 and 1825, and was designed by Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchinson.[1] A grant of £6,221 (equivalent to £460,000 in 2015)[3] was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission.[2] In 1882 a chancel was added to the church, and a baptistery was created within the church, by T. H. Myers.[4] The church was declared redundant on 1 January 1979.[5] In 1981 it was bought for £35,000 by Red Rose Radio who spent £780,000 to convert it into a radio station.[6] The conversion was carried out by Sandy Brown Associates.[4] Two radio stations, 97.4 Rock FM and Magic 999, now broadcast from the building.

Architecture

The former church is constructed in sandstone with a tiled roof. Its architectural style is Early English. The plan consists of a seven-bay nave with full-height aisles, a two-bay chancel and offices. It has a three-span roof. The west end is in three sections; the central section is gabled, and the side sections are smaller with angle buttresses. Octagonal turrets rise at the junctions of the sections. In the lower part of the central section is a three-bay arcade, each arch containing a window. Above the arcade are three stepped lancet windows, over which is a small circular window. The turrets are slim and contain open arcading, and an embattled cap over which is a tall pinnacle with a quatrefoil finial. Each side section contains a tall lancet window. Along the side of the church, the bays are divided by buttresses. The first bays contain a doorway with a window above it, and all the other bays have pairs of lancet windows. At the east end of the church are three stepped lancet windows and pinnacles similar to those at the west end.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Historic England, "Former Church of St Paul (now Red Rose Radio) (1207331)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 13 December 2011
  2. 1 2 Port, M. H. (2006), 600 New Churches: The Church Building Commission 1818–1856 (2nd ed.), Reading: Spire Books, p. 327, ISBN 978-1-904965-08-4
  3. ↑ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
  4. 1 2 Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 537, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
  5. ↑ Diocese of Blackburn: All Schemes (PDF), Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2010, p. 5, retrieved 13 December 2011
  6. ↑ Red Rose Radio, Preston, Domesday Reloaded, BBC, retrieved 13 December 2011
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