Completed in 1848 and built in what is generally called the Early English style of architecture, St Paul’s is something of a hybrid. Its designer, Edward Buckton Lamb, is often referred to as “The Rogue Architect”. He was responsible for about ten churches including two others in North Yorkshire at Thirkleby and Aldwark. Others were built in Oxford, Middlesex, Hampshire Winchester, Buckinghamshire, Suffolk, Somerset and Montgomeryshire.
St Paul’s is immediately identified by its splendid spire which tops the central tower. The great weight of the spire is spread by the transept walls and taken through the large but well disguised buttresses. This ingenious design keeps the alter fully visible from the nave.
The stone came from a local quarry, Healey Pasture, long since closed, though similar stone is still available from above East Witton where the sandstone bed re-surfaces.
Furniture was made of timber form the nearby Scroggs Plantation. It is brown oak naturally darkened by the ‘beefsteak fungus” and is today very expensive.
The roof was constructed using a laminating technique forming a high-pitched “scissor trussed” roof.
One legend still repeated is that St Paul’s is the only church to have been built on the winnings of a racehorse. The horse in question was named Ellington, born in the neighboring village of the same name and trained at Middleham. Ellington won the Derby but not until 1856, some eight years after the church was built.
The organ is by Walkers of Leeds and came from Leeds Parish Church, where it was said to be used as a practice organ for the choir. Its predecessor, a harmonium, is still kept in the church and used as a bookcase.
One of the Altar frontals with its matching falls was a gift of the Late Countess of Swinton from specially prepared material that was used in Westminster Abbey at the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The West Window has an “H” at the top that commemorates the fact that St Paul’s was built by Admiral Vernon Harcourt of Swinton (at a cost not much short of £2,000). The Architect donated the window on the north side of the nave.
The bell has no founders name but was cast in 1848 and weighs about three hundredweight. The bell rope has a Yorkshire Tail End the fleecy section at the lower end of the rope is sometimes called the “Billy”. The “Sally” is the three foot long wool-covered part further up the rope. The design is unique to Yorkshire but is mainly found in the West Riding. St Paul’s Yorkshire tail is possibly the only one in the old North Riding.
The distinguished architectural historian, Sir Nikolas Pevsner, in the North Riding edition of his comprehensive work “The Building of England” said this about St Paul’s “ the crossing inside is the real Lamb Grand Slam. The four tower arches are narrow so there is space in the corners for heavy, gradually projecting, as it were rusticated squinches to lead up to the tower and a second set higher up to lead to the spire.