Visitors struck by the traditional
Cornish features of the interior of St. Paul's may be surprised to learn that
before 1844 no church existed on this site. The ancient rural parish of St.
Clement extended as far as the river that runs near the Cathedral and all
who lived in it were obliged to travel over the hills and down to the riverside
Church of St. Clement for services, sacraments and burial. The alternative
was Kenwyn Parish Church on the
Perranporth road.
By 1844 Truro had expanded across the river and up the hills in terraced rows of small, poor housing, while a number of rich families had constructed large mansions with spacious grounds along the lower parts of what is now Tregolls Road, Tremorvah, Tregolls and Alverton. In this latter lived William Mansell Tweedy, whose father founded the bank whose buildings in Boscawen Street are now occupied by Coodes, Charlotte's Tea Room and Pizza Express. .
It was he who in 1844-45 was responsible for the construction of a first church, on the site of St. Paul's to serve as a chapel-of-ease for the Parish of St. Clement.
This first church was similar to the mother
church at St. Clement, with a single aisle, to the south of the nave, and
no distinct chancel. A separate Parish of St. Paul was carved out and the
Parish Church was consecrated at last in 1864, 20 years after its completion.
In 1869 the first notable Vicar of St. Paul's, Revd. Edgar Dumbleton, was
appointed and soon the original church was proving much too small. Dumbleton
had been at St. Michael's
Ryde where he built a new church and in 1873 he asked John Dando Sedding to
prepare plans for a new church at St. Paul's.
Sedding was at this time at work on his first major church design, St. Clement's, Bournemouth and was only to become famous in his last years, especially as the architect of Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, and of the Church of the Holy Redeemer, Clerkenwell. Plans were drawn up for St. Paul's but nothing was begun. Money was lacking.
In 1879 F.E. Gardiner became the sixth Vicar
of St. Paul's. When the Prince of Wales came to Truro to lay the foundation
stone of the Cathedral in May 1880, he was greeted by the Mayor, Philip Protheroe
Smith of Tremorvah, who was the Vicar's Warden of St. Paul's. Smith encouraged
the rebuilding scheme at St. Paul's but died in 1882. In January 1883 his
eldest son laid the foundation stone for the first stage of the rebuilding.
To the east of
the original Church following Sedding's plans, a chancel with aisles was constructed
over the crypt made necessary by the slope of the land. This included the
base of the lateral tower, a typical feature of Sedding's designs. This new
work was consecrated by Bishop Wilkinson on January 7th 1884.
It is scarcely surprising that funds were not available for St. Paul's in these years, when the Cathedral was slowly rising in the city centre. At last in November 1887 the quire and transepts of the Cathedral were completed and consecrated. In May 1888 work began to demolish the old nave of St. Paul's. Following Sedding's plan, the south aisle was retained, with its arcade [in which each pillar is now a granite monolith]. The new nave was much wider and was completed by a north aisle separated from it by elegant six moulded, four centred arches.
When the Church was reopened , on June 27th 1889 it was as we see it now except for the tower. An organ had been installed and a heating system too. After various delays the tower was at last completed in 1910, the original plans being modified by Edmund Sedding, the architect's nephew. He was also responsible for the chapel at what is now the Alverton Manor Hotel, which was from 1883 until 1984 the home of the Community of the Epiphany.
It was Sedding's practice to include in his
plans design's for the interior furnishings of his churches and St. Paul's
was no exception. Sedding was strongly influenced by the Catholic Revival
of the latter part of the 19th century, with its deep interest in gothic design.
Thus his plans for St. Paul's included choir stalls, return stalls for the
clergy, a rood screen
between nave and quire, parclose screens around the sanctuary and stained
glass designs. In 1968 it became necessary to remove the worm infested rood
screen and at that time the Church's interior was modified to allow celebration
of the Sunday Eucharist according to more modern ideas. A new altar was set
up on raised steps between the choir and the congregation, pews were turned
so that the people were facing the altar on three sides and the priest took
his place to the east of the altar, facing the congregation.
The Interior
The architect Sedding's independent spirit and his poetic genius , find their highest expression in his variations on ancient motifs in the tracery of the great East Window and also in the great South Window beneath the tower. The stained glass in the East window is by Westlakes, who were also responsible for the glass at St. Clement's Bournemouth. This window, perhaps the most beautiful in the building, is essentially a "Te Deum" window, crowned by Christ in Majesty and with, below from left to right, figures of Matthew, Mark, Paul, Mary/Jesus, Clement, Luke and John.
A motif "SP" [Saint Paul] is repeated in the East window and the ceiling decorations, which were executed by Solomans of Truro and is reflected in the "IHS" [Jesus] of the floor tiles.
The choir stalls, like the now demolished rood screen came from the workshops of Robinson of London and were installed in 1893, at the same time as the screen between quire and tower which is a memorial to Mrs Fanny Polwhele. The wooden screens enclosing quire and sanctuary were set up from time to time, those to the left of the sanctuary and in front of the organ being in memory of two church wardens, Thomas Polwhele and Thomas Barrett. Against the organ on the North Aisle side is a carved beam, all that remains of the original rood screen.
The organ by Hele's of Plymouth, is a good 3 manual instrument with tracker action to the manuals, pneumatic pedal action. It has a particularly good full swell chorus. During its rebuilding in 1958, services were accompanied on a 2 manual chamber organ, every pipe of which had been hand made and action assembled by the then Vicar, Dr. H. MilesBrown. Overhaul of the organ took place in 1984.
The elaborately carved wooden pulpit was installed in July 1901, in memory of Lady Protheroe Smith of Tremorvah, who had always been a great churchwoman andbenefactor of St Paul's. When this pulpit was introduced, the old stone pulpit was thrown out. Later, it began to be said that the stone pulpit had come from St.Clement's and was from the fifteenth century. It was therefore reassembled on the south side, beneath the tower arch; visitors may judge for themselves whether or not its style is what would be expected in a medieval pulpit, of which only a small number remain.
F.E.Gardiner was Vicar at St Paul's from 1879
until 1888 and as well as organising the rebuilding of the church he presented
the rood screen in memory of his wife, Jessica who died after childbirth in
April 1881. The east window in the clergy vestry commemorates their child
who died seven months later, the south window in the clergy vestry is in memory
of his brother who died while on holiday in Truro in 1883. In spite of so
much
grief, Gardiner returned to Truro nine years later as Sub Dean of the Cathedral.
Not surprisingly, these chapel windows portray the childhood of Christ. The
screen isolating the Clergy vestry dates from 1968 and from Whit Sunday 1895
until then this was a "Lady Chapel". On the north side is a small
chapel which is used as an area of quietness and peace.
The Exterior
It had been Sedding's plan that the eastern exterior of the Church should be ornamental with figure sculture, only part of which was ever set up and some elements have been removed. The most original feature of the 80 foot tower are the 3 statues crowning it in place of pinnacles. They represent 3 famous Cornishmen: Sir Richard Grenville, Sir John Elliott and Bishop Trelawney. On the south side of the tower Mr Edward Forbes Whitley provided figures of Christ, St. Paul and St. George. Unfortunately the stone used has not proved capable of withstanding the Cornish weather and the statues are slowly disappearing.
The Wider Surroundings
Directly to the west of the church stands a small building erected in 1905. From the time of Vicar Dumbleton the parish has used this building for a number of activities designed to help the people of the area, both children and adults. At present it is used as a meeting room for the P.C.C. and for serving tea and coffee after Sunday morning services.
Closely associated with the history of St. Paul's was the Diocesan Training College for School Mistresses, which was established at the top of Agar Road in 1859 and continued in existence until just before the Second World War. Its chapel designed by Edmund Sedding Jr. and consecrated in 1913, survives as the Church Hall a little way up Agar Road. Attached to the Training College were "practising schools" for infants and girls which later became Tremorvah Junior School for boys and girls. This school closed in 1976 when Archbishop Benson C.of E. Junior School opened. In 1896 a school for older boys was opened by Bishop Gott to the north of the church. It was built at the expense of Lady Protheroe Smith and of the then Vicar, Father Forbes. This building later became St. Paul's Infants School. It closed in 1987 and amalgamated with the new school in Bodmin Road to become Archbishop Benson Church of England Aided Primary School.
On the hill behind St.Paul's are the buildings of Alverton, after a century's use by the Sisters of the Epiphany they have been transformed into a hotel. The house called Tregolls was occupied from 1880 for a number of years by the historic Truro Grammar School [founded in 1549] before it became the Cathedral School, then it transformed into the Duchy Grammar School which has since closed.
Visitors may see an empty building, and read about its history. In order to understand the sense of the of the building and the real meaning of the history, they would need to be present at a Sunday morning Parish Eucharist. St. Paul's is the place in which a Christian community worships God. People worked hard to build the church and harder still to build up the community of its members.
There is nothing extraordinary about St.Paul's Church, Truro. As in all Christian living, what is extraordinary remains hidden in the secret life of God's humbler servants for whom, " this is the house of God, this is the gateway to heaven."
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