St Paul's, Hammersmith

St Paul's Church, Hammersmith
Denomination	Church of England
Website	Official website
Administration
Deanery	Hammersmith and Fulham Deanery
Diocese	Diocese of London
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s)	The Revd Simon Downham
Curate(s)	Will Leaf Nick Drake
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	Tom Jackson Madi Simpson

St Paul's is a Grade II* listed Anglican church at Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London W6, adjacent to Hammersmith flyover, and only a short walk from Hammersmith tube station.

The church dates back to the 17th century. The 2nd Earl of Mulgrave purchased the land in 1629, and the main contributor to the building fund (£700) was the wealthy merchant Sir Nicholas Crispe, who had lived since 1625 in a house on the riverside in Hammersmith. The foundation stone was laid on 11 March 1630, and the chapel of ease was consecrated by Archbishop Laud on 7 June 1631.

Hammersmith was developing rapidly, helped by the arrival of the new Metropolitan Railway. At a public meeting held on 20 January 1880, the decision was taken to rebuild the church on the same site. It was felt that the building was no longer big enough to accommodate the growing population and ‘The old unsightly structure is not worthy of being the chief witness to God in the midst of such an important Metropolitan Suburb as Hammersmith has now become.’ In July 1882 the Duke of Albany laid the foundation stone, and the nave of the new church was consecrated on 13 October 1883. The architects were J. P. Seddon and H. R. Gough.

Like St Peter's Church in Hammersmith, St Paul's lost a significant portion of its land, including that with graves, when Hammersmith Flyover and the Great West Road were built in 1957-61.

Hammersmith Chess Club briefly used the Church Hall as their home venue from 1970 to 1975, before later moving on to Blythe House.

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Wikipedia