St Paul, Brighton
St Paul, Brighton
St Paul’s on West Street, Brighton, is a Grade II* Decorated Gothic Revival church built in 1846–48 by Richard Cromwell Carpenter for the Revd Henry Michell Wagner, as a centre of the Oxford Movement in the poor Fishery district.
- Location
- Brighton, Sussex
- Country
- England
- County
- Sussex
- City / town
- Brighton
- Address
- West Street, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 2RG
- Postcode
- BN1 2RG
- Built
- 1846–48; tower and spire 1873–75; narthex 1887
- Consecrated
- 23 October 1849
- Architect
- Richard Cromwell Carpenter; tower and spire by Richard Herbert Carpenter; narthex and Fishermen’s Institute by George Frederick Bodley
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Paul
- Diocese
- Chichester
- Parish
- Brighton St Paul
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Decorated Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Knapped flint with limestone dressings; wood and lead to the octagon and spire; slate and tile roofs
- Grid reference
- TQ 307 041
- Opening hours
- The church is open for visiting from 10.30am to 12 noon each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; from 10.30am to 3pm each Wednesday and Saturday, and from 10.30am to 3pm on every weekday during the Brighton Festival in May, throughout July and August and over the Christmas period. Groups visits can be arranged on request.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England records a knapped-flint church with limestone dressings, designed by R. C. Carpenter and built by George Cheeseman in 1846–48. The tower and lead-sheathed wooden octagon and spire are by Richard Herbert Carpenter, 1873–75. George Frederick Bodley added the narthex and Fishermen’s Institute in 1887 and a covered way, remodelled by John Leopold Denman in 1937. The plan is chancel, nave, north and south aisles, and a north tower at the junction of chancel and nave. The principal entrance is in the east face of the tower, with a statue of St Paul in the tympanum.
The church opened on 18 October 1848 and was consecrated on 23 October 1849. Arthur Douglas Wagner became perpetual curate in 1850 and remained until his death in 1902; the church gained its own parish in 1873. Almost all the stained glass in chancel, nave and aisles was designed by A. W. N. Pugin about 1848 and made by Hardman. Bodley designed the chancel ceiling (c.1905), the rood-screen canopy (c.1910) and an alabaster memorial to Father Wagner. The church is in the Diocese of Chichester.