A modest 1960s church of no great architectural pretensions but with a pleasing, homely interior and some furnishings of note.

The site was acquired by the diocese in the 1950s for a chapel-of-ease serving the northeast part of St Wilfrid’s parish. The foundation stone was laid on 28 April 1962 by Bishop George Brunner, and the church was consecrated on 9 May 1963. It was dedicated to St Paulinus, Bishop of York and missionary to Northumbria. The architect was G. Robson of Robson & Knowles, York.

St Paulinus became a separate parish in 1968 and a linked  presbytery was built in 1971, from designs by Swainston, Wilson & Shields. The church roof was raised by Weightman & Bullen in 1992 (Buildings of England).

Description

Built of Fletton brick laid in Flemish bond, under a roof with concrete interlocking tiles, the church consists of a gabled west front/narthex, with lean-to additions at the sides, unaisled nave and chancel with flanking chapels. The northern chapel links through to a sacristy and onto a meeting room, forming part of the (later) presbytery. The entrance is through double doors at the centre of the west front. Over this, a slate panel with a (Northumbrian?) landscape scene, surmounted by a semicircular niche containing a statue of St Paulinus by John Bunting. Flanking this central bay, three square windows with unusual grille pattern on either side, with projecting concrete surrounds. The flank elevations are plain, the five bays of the nave marked by metal windows with opaque plain glass within projecting surrounds. The east wall is blank.

The entrance narthex leads through doors with inset stained glass roundels into an interior with an attractive homely quality. There is a west gallery over the narthex. The nave is plain in character, with a polished parquet floor, simple pews and a canted  ceiling  with  prefabricated  panels  (presumably  dating  from  1992).  The sanctuary and the flanking chapels at the east end are recessed behind paraboloid arches.  There is a high reredos behind the main altar with a coved top and flanking tiers.

Furnishings worthy of mention include a painted panel showing the conversion of King Edwin by St Paulinus in the narthex area and the incised slate Stations of the Cross, 1959 by Harry Ibbetsen (also responsible for similar contemporary Stations at St Wilfrid’s).

Heritage Details