Learning at St Paul’s Church, Bow Common
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A self-guided tour of St Paul’s Church, Bow Common
In 2013, the National Churches Trust, the Twentieth Century Society and the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association organised a search for the best modern church in the UK. Awarding the prize to St Paul’s Bow Common, the judges said they had sought an uplifting architecture that celebrated Christianity and churches that best responded to changes in religious liturgy and practice.
Start just inside the main west doors: Standing just inside the main west end doors, you can see the whole church – the central altar, the mosaics, two discreet chapels and the light coming into the building directly above the altar.
The architectural style is sometimes called New Brutalism, from the French word for ‘raw’.
Industrial materials are used in the design: concrete slabs on the floor, wood wool tiles in the lantern ceiling and bare brickwork. The emphasis is on expressing the main functions and people-flows of the building, creating an architectural image that communicates strength, functionality, and frank expression of materiality.
Revolutionary shape and layout of the church for worship: in the 1950s people came to believe that the altar should be in the middle of the worshippers, so that everyone, including the clergy, is around it – putting God at the centre. This church is held to be the first in the UK that truly put these principles into practice, leading the way churches would come to be designed.
St Paul, Bow Common by _jjph, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Follow the brick path to your right: The display shows the history of this church which was built to replace the previous building destroyed by bombing during the Second World War. The architect and designer, Robert Maguire and Keith Murray, were both in their 20s and worked with the vicar at the time to create this unusual building.
The feeling in London after WW2 was one of reconstruction and hope, and the church needed to be forward-looking and daring.
The inspiration for the building came from the local parishioners here in Bow Common, who responded to the new vision of Eucharistic worship, inclusive of the whole people of God.
Robert Maguire, the architect, said in 2010, “You are doing wonderful things in this building… being centred on flexibility for worship, it turns out, to my great joy, to be flexible for many other things that build trust and grow true communities”.
Continue anti-clockwise around the church past the organ console towards the bell ropes. Look up and see the mosaics, The Angels of the Heavenly Host 1963—1968 by Charles Lutyens. Haloed, winged and clad in white, the angels raise their hands in worship. The mosaic forms a continuous image around the central space of the church. It is made of 800 square feet of “small tesserae” imported from Murano near Venice, where the colours have been manufactured to secret recipes for hundreds of years.
Charles Lutyens, the artist, chose colours from the half-light of early morning or evening. The corner panels represent the elements, earth, air, fire and water which reach back into the Creation. Closest to the font is fire, and the other three corner panels recall bird, fish and beast.
Notice the minimum of division between the clergy and the people. The two steps at the altar are enough to make the priest visible.
St Paul, Bow Common by Jason John Paul Haskins, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
St Paul, Bow Common by Jason John Paul Haskins, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Continue around the church to the Blessed Sacrament chapel. You will see the early Christian symbol of a large anchor, carved by Ralph Beyer, who also carved the porch lettering.
The brick path provides a route for the congregation to process on special occasions.
Follow the path again to the Lady Chapel. If you wish, you may say a prayer and light a candle.
Continue to the octagonal concrete font. Imagine how, when filled with water, placing the font near the door reflects the light from the lantern. This shows that Baptism is the way to enter the church.
St Paul, Bow Common by Jason John Paul Haskins, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Thank you for visiting. If you would like to make a donation to support the upkeep of this significant building, follow this link.
Cash and card donations are also welcome.
We are fundraising for urgent electrical rewiring and to restore the font cover.
Thank you for your donations.
If you would like to write something in our visitors’ book please go ahead. We appreciate your comments.
Exit through the porch to finish the tour outside: Outside the church, the lettering over the octagonal porch is by Ralph Beyer and quotes from Genesis 28:17, the biblical image of Jacob’s Ladder, with angels ascending a link between Heaven and Earth.
Beyer, recognised for developing lettering from a craft tradition into an art form, handcrafted each letter and imprinted each in the wet concrete.
Thank you for visiting and do come again.
We worship together every Sunday at 10 am.
Publications & resources
History and Architecture Guidebook
This 16 page illustrated guide introduces you to the church, how it got designed and built, and the art and mosaics.
The material in this booklet is based on the work of Prebendary Duncan Ross. © StPaulsBowCommon 2016 Published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon this work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creation. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
Take the Tour leaflet
Our ‘Take the Tour’ leaflet highlights many of the interesting and unique features of St Paul’s (PDF 688Kb)
© StPaulsBowCommon 2016, published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon this work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creation. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
Tour of the Mosaics leaflet
Download this leaflet detailing a tour of Charles Lutyens’ Heavenly Host cycle of mosaics. (PDF 634Kb)
© StPaulsBowCommon 2016, published under the CC BY 4.0 licence. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon this work, even commercially, as long as they credit the original creation. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.
Family history
If you are tracing your ancestors from Bow Common, our records from 1858—1938 have now been deposited with the London Metropolitan Archive.
Church of Saint Paul, Bow Common
The church of Saint Paul, Bow Common, consecrated in 1858, was financed by William Cotton of Leytonstone and was also known as ‘Cotton's Church’.
The church was bombed during the Second World War, and the building was completely demolished. Baptisms were subsequently performed at Holy Trinity, Mile End Old Town (P93/TRI), and then at Saint Barnabas Mission Church until the parish was united with Saint Luke, Burdett Road (P93/LUK) in 1951.
A new church for the parish of Saint Paul was begun in 1958 and consecrated in 1960; the architect was Robert Maguire, and its design, innovative and modernist is based on the ideals of the Liturgical Movement.
Church of Saint Luke, Burdett Road
From 1944 until July 1951 the registers of Saint Luke Burdett Road, where the congregation met, were used by Saint Paul's and from July 1951 to July 1958 the same registers of Saint Luke's were used by the congregation of the united parish of Saint Paul, Bow Common and Saint Luke, Burdett Road.
Saint Luke's church was abandoned by the congregation in July 1958 for Saint Barnabas Mission church, baptisms being entered in the Saint Paul's registers. A separate register of marriages was kept for Saint Paul's until July 1951, when marriages were all entered in the Saint Luke's registers, until these were closed in July 1958 and the Saint Paul's registers again brought into use for the united parish.