St Paul's Church, Wordsworth Avenue

Last updated

St Paul's Church, Wordsworth Avenue
St Pauls, Wordsworth Avenue.jpg
St Paul's Church, Wordsworth Avenue
St Paul's Church, Wordsworth Avenue
OS grid reference SK 35356 93063
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship Broad Church
History
Dedication St. Paul
Administration
Province York
Diocese Sheffield
Parish Sheffield

St Paul's Church is situated within the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, in the suburb of Parson Cross on Wordsworth Avenue. St Paul's is a modern looking post war church which has been designated as a Grade II* listed building. [1]

Contents

History

St Paul's was opened in 1959 to serve the New Parson Cross estate which had been constructed on previous greenfield land in the late 1940s as the City of Sheffield cleared its slum housing and expanded into the countryside. The church was designed by the Scottish architect Basil Spence who was forced to work with a limited budget. Spence was working on his most famous design Coventry Cathedral at the same time that he was overseeing the construction of St Paul's. [2]

When St Paul's was opened in 1959 it did not have its own parish and was purely a daughter church to St Mary's, Ecclesfield. However the area around St Paul's was declared a Conventional District within the Ecclesfield parish and in 1973 the separate parish of St Paul, Wordsworth Avenue was created. The new housing estate never had an official name, so the parish is one of the few which is identified by its street address rather than by its district. The parish was badly hit by the collapse of the Sheffield steel industry in the 1980s.

Architecture

Spence's design for St Paul's is quite simple although this is not obvious at first glance. The church is basically two brick walls joined by a shallow barrel vault roof strengthened by diagonal steel bracing. The ends of the church consist almost entirely of glass with Spence integrating some the ideas he had used at St Oswald's, Tile Hill in 1957. To the front of the church is a 49-foot (15 m) high campanile consisting of just two brick walls with concrete ties in between. There is a twenty-foot (6 m) cross on top of the campanile. The church hall stands just to the north within the church grounds. The interior has a balcony reached by steps on which the organ stands. While the altar is screened to give it some privacy from the big end window by a hardwood panel made from African Teak. Spence's personal gift for the church were the altar ornaments which are made from hammered iron. [3]

Related Research Articles

Ecclesfield is a village and civil parish in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, about 4 miles (6 km) north of Sheffield City Centre. Ecclesfield civil parish had a population of 32,073 at the 2011 Census. Ecclesfield wards of the City of Sheffield had a population of 35,994 in 2011. The population of Ecclesfield village stood at 7,163 in the most recent census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southey, South Yorkshire</span> Electoral ward in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

Southey ward—which includes the districts of Fox Hill, New Parson Cross, Southey, Wadsley Bridge, and part of Old Parson Cross—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the northern part of the city and covers an area of 1.8 square miles. The population of this ward in 2011 was 19,086 people in 8,295 households. It is one of the wards that make up the Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough constituency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John and St Mary Magdalene Church, Goldthorpe</span> Church

St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene Church is a parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Sheffield in Goldthorpe, near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.

Wadsley Bridge is a suburb of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of the city centre. The area is a mixture of residential housing and small industrial and commercial premises. The suburb falls within the Hillsborough ward of the City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Firth Park (ward)</span> Electoral ward in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

Firth Park ward—which includes the districts of Firth Park, Longley, Parson Cross and parts of Wincobank—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England located in the northern part of the city and covering an area of 1.66 square miles (4.3 km2). The population of this ward in 2011 was 21,141 people in 8,602 households.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Ecclesfield</span> Electoral ward in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

West Ecclesfield ward—which includes the districts of Burncross, Grenoside, High Green—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the northern part of the city and covers an area of 4.83 square miles in the western part of Ecclesfield Parish. The population of this ward in 2011 was 17,699 people in 7,675 households. West Ecclesfield was one of the six wards that made up the former Sheffield Hillsborough Parliamentary constituency. In their final report, the Boundary Commission for England recommended that West Ecclesfield form part of a reformed Penistone Parliamentary constituency. West Ecclesfield is composed of a number of polling districts. There are six in total; Angram Bank, Burncross, Grenoside one and two, Mortomley and Wortley Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longley, Sheffield</span>

Longley is a suburb of the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. It lies four km north of the city centre and is a residential neighbourhood made up mostly of housing built by Sheffield City Council in the late 1920s. The suburb falls within the Firth Park ward of the City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Bartholomew's Church, Brighton</span> Church

St Bartholomew's Church, dedicated to the apostle Bartholomew, is an Anglican church in Brighton, England. The neo-gothic building is located on Ann Street, on a sloping site between Brighton railway station and the A23 London Road, adjacent to the New England Quarter development. It is notable for its height – dominating the streets around it and being visible from many parts of the city – and its distinctive red-brick construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Nicholas, Bradfield</span> Listed church in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

The Church of St. Nicholas, Bradfield is situated in the small village of High Bradfield, which is located 6 miles (10 km) north west of the centre of the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of only five Grade One Listed buildings in Sheffield. The church is situated 260 metres (850 ft) above sea level, overlooking the Peak District National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadsley Parish Church</span> Anglican church in Wadsley, South Yorkshire, England

Wadsley Parish Church is situated within the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is located on Worrall Road, 3 miles (5 km) north west of the city centre in the suburb of Wadsley, which was formerly a village outside the city boundary. The church is quite unusual in that it is not dedicated to a saint. It is a grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Mary, Ecclesfield</span> Grade I listed church in South Yorkshire, England

The Church of St Mary, Ecclesfield, is situated on Church Street in the village of Ecclesfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the city centre. It is a Grade I listed building, one of only five within the Sheffield city boundary. It was originally the parish church for Hallamshire, one of the largest parishes in England and in the seventeenth century was known as the "Minster of the Moors" due to its then rural situation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Matthew's Church, Sheffield</span> Anglican church in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

St Matthew's Church, more usually known as St Matthew's Carver Street, is situated on Carver Street in the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is a Grade II listed building located at grid reference SK351871. The church is part of the Anglo-Catholic movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Vincent's Church, Sheffield</span> Church in South Yorkshire, England

St Vincent's Church is a redundant Roman Catholic church situated on Solly Street at its junction with Hollis Croft in the centre of the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Monica's Church (Queens)</span> Historic church in Queens, New York

St. Monica's Church is a historic former Roman Catholic parish church in the Diocese of Brooklyn, located in Jamaica, Queens, New York. It was built in 1856 and is a brick basilica-type building in the Romanesque style. It features a four-story entrance tower in the center of its three-bay-wide front facade. Saint Monica's Church has been refurbished on the Campus of York College as a child care center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Bolsterstone</span> Church in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

St Mary's Church, Bolsterstone is situated in the village of Bolsterstone, within the boundary of the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. The church dates from 1879 although there is evidence that a place of worship has existed on the site since the 12th century. It is located 8.1 miles (13 km) north-west of the city centre and is a grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St James' Church, Midhopestones</span>

St James’ Church, Midhopestones is situated in the small rural hamlet of Midhopestones, just within the northern boundary of the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Since April 1969 it has been a Grade II* listed building. St James is small church which is often referred to as a chapel, in fact it is situated on Chapel Lane. The church is officially dedicated to James the Less and not James the Greater although there has always been some confusion. Some modern historians and clergy maintain that the church should be dedicated to James the Greater as the scallop shells carved above the church door are the traditional emblem of James the Greater. It is possible that it was re-dedicated to James the Less in the Victorian era because of the smallness of the church. The church is in the Parish of Penistone within the Diocese of Wakefield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Cross Church, Middleton</span> Church in Leeds, England

The Church of St Cross is in Middleton, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is an active Anglican church and part of the Armley deanery in the archdeaconry of Leeds, Diocese of Leeds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Ambrose's Church, Speke</span> Church in Merseyside, England

St Ambrose's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Heathgate Avenue, Speke, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active parish church in the Archdiocese of Liverpool and the Pastoral Area of Woolton and Halewood. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest</span> Church in Cheshire, England

The Church of St Cuthbert by the Forest is in the village of Mouldsworth, Cheshire, England. It is an active Roman Catholic church in the diocese of Shrewsbury. Its parish is combined with that of St Thomas Becket, Tarporley. The church, designed by Liverpool architect F. X. Velarde, is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. The small church is distinguished by its characteristic detached campanile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blessed Sacrament Church (Buffalo, New York)</span> Church in New York , United States

Blessed Sacrament Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in Buffalo, New York, United States. Constructed in the late 19th century, it remains the home of an active congregation and has been recognized as a historically significant building in the Linwood Historic District of Buffalo.

References

  1. Historic England. "Church of St Paul (1376605)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 29 September 2022.
  2. "A History of Sheffield", David Hey, ISBN   1-85936-110-2, Page 277 Gives some information on post war housing development in Sheffield.
  3. "Pevsner Architectural Guides - Sheffield", Ruth Harman & John Minnis, ISBN   0-300-10585-1, Page 37 Gives details of architecture.

53°26′00″N1°28′09″W / 53.4332°N 1.4693°W / 53.4332; -1.4693