St Paul's Church

St Paul’s Church stands in the Welsh seaside town of Colwyn Bay, a large Anglican parish church built in stone with a bold tower. The present building replaced earlier iron and timber structures after fires, and was designed in stages by the Chester firm of Douglas and Fordham. The nave went up in 1887–88, the chancel followed in the mid-1890s, and the tower was finished in 1911. A war-memorial narthex was added in 1920 under the hand of W. D. Caroe. The church is notable for its wide nave, low arcades and tall clerestory, with lancet windows and a rose window in the south transept. Inside, the chancel sedilia and carved stalls show Douglas’s characteristic style, while the 1930s reredos depicts the Supper at Emmaus and the Annunciation. Stained glass by Horace Wilkinson fills the west window and narthex, and the organ was built by Peter Conacher and Son in 1888, later completed and rebuilt. Edward Hubbard called it an extraordinary building and suggested it might be Douglas’s masterpiece of the decade. Visitors find a spacious cruciform interior with a high tower rising above the town. The stonework shows bands of Runcorn red sandstone against grey limestone, and the buttressed tower gives the church a rugged silhouette. Carved figures on the reredos include Saint Kentigern, Saint Asaph, Saint Aidan and the Venerable Bede. The organ pipes stand at the west end, and light falls through the lancets and the rose window onto the nave below.