St Paul, Shadwell
St Paul, Shadwell
St Paul’s is a Grade II* Classical Church of England parish church on the south side of The Highway, Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, in the Diocese of London. It is traditionally nicknamed the Church of Sea Captains.
- Location
- Shadwell, Greater London
- Country
- England
- County
- Greater London
- City / town
- Shadwell
- Address
- The Highway, Shadwell, Greater London, E1W 3DH
- Postcode
- E1W 3DH
- Built
- 1817–20; interior remodelled 1848; east end remodelled 1931
- Architect
- John Walters; William Butterfield (1848 interior); W C Waymouth (1931 east end)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Paul
- Diocese
- London
- Parish
- St Paul Shadwell with St James Ratcliffe
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Classical
- Materials
- Stock brick with limestone plinth and parts of the spire; stucco dressings
- Grid reference
- TQ 352 807
- Opening hours
- Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
- Website
- https://sps.church/
Overview
Historic England records a rebuild of 1817–20 by John Walters, replacing Shadwell’s chapel of 1656 (given its own parish in 1670, the first carved from St Dunstan, Stepney, since Whitechapel in 1338). The fabric is stock brick with a limestone plinth and stucco dressings. The nave has two tiers of six rectangular windows, reflecting galleries; the west front has a stuccoed pedimented gable and four pilasters framing a rectangular entrance. The landmark spire has a square base with paired Corinthian angle columns, a circular Corinthian tempietto and an obelisk top-stage. Panels on the west front name Walters as architect and J. Streather as builder, and date the rebuild to 1820. It is the only survivor of Walters’s three east London churches.
William Butterfield remodelled the interior in 1848, opening the tripartite east window and forming a sanctuary; W. C. Waymouth removed Butterfield’s arch and vault in 1931. The interior retains three-sided galleries on Tuscan timber columns, a shallow saucer dome over the nave, and an organ with substantial work of 1714 by Abraham Jordan. The octagonal font survives from the seventeenth-century church. Early nineteenth-century iron railings and gates on The Highway are separately listed.