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This church in the Decorated or Middle-Pointed style of Gothic architecture bears out what Reginald Turnor has said about the architect: "although he shared the affectations of the Camdenians with Butterfield, R. C. Carpenter exercised a scholarly restraint and so avoided the worst excesses of inventiveness" (69). Indeed, according to the church's information sheet, St Paul's is considered "one of the first successful nineteenth-century Gothic buildings." It certainly drew a large congregation. With the Rev. Arthur Douglas Wagner as its first Vicar (from 1850-1902), it played a big role in promoting the Tractarian movement. As the information sheet concludes, in "an age of so much ugliness and unrest it is a joy to find such peace and loveliness, which speak of enduring values."

References

The information sheet, headed "Welcome to the Parish Church of Saint Paul, Brighton," is available at the church. (Also available, as the present Churchwarden John Burdett has kindly pointed out, are a very detailed guide book, framed descriptions of features in the church, and quite a large web site, St Paul's Church, Brighton.

Eatwell, Ann and Ruth Gosling, "Hardman Family." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online edition. Viewed 6 March 2007.

Turnor, Reginald. Nineteenth-Century Architecture in Britain. London: Batsford, 1950.

Last modified 25 June 2008