St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge

St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge
St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge
	51°30′05″N 0°09′21″W / 51.5015°N 0.1557°W
Location	32a Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 8SH
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
Website	stpaulsknightsbridge.org
History
Dedication	Saint Paul
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	24-Feb-1958
Architect(s)	Thomas Cundy the younger
Style	Victorian Gothic
Years built	1843
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	London
Archdeaconry	Charing Cross
Deanery	Westminster (St Margaret)
Parish	St Paul, Wilton Place
Clergy
Archbishop	Archbishop of Canterbury
Bishop(s)	Bishop of London
Vicar(s)	Alan Gyle
Honorary priest(s)	Michael Colclough ; Victor Stock

St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, is an English Grade II* listed Anglican church of the Anglo-Catholic tradition located at 32a Wilton Place in Knightsbridge, London.^[1]

History and architecture

The church was founded in 1843, the first in London to champion the ideals of the Oxford Movement, during the incumbency of the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett. The architect was Thomas Cundy the younger.^[2]

After the building's consecration in 1843, the chancel with its rood screen and striking reredos was added in 1892 by the noted church architect George Frederick Bodley, who also decorated St Luke's chapel, which stands in the place of a lady chapel to the south of the sanctuary, the lady chapel of St Paul's having traditionally been seen as being the church of St Mary's, Bourne Street.

The tiled panels around the walls of the nave, created in the 1870s by Daniel Bell, depict scenes from the life of Jesus. The stations of the cross that intersperse the tiled panels, painted in the early 1920s by Gerald Moira, show scenes from the crucifixion story. The font dates from 1842 and is carved with biblical scenes from both the Old and New testaments. There are statues of the Virgin and Child (1896) above the entrance to the chapel and of St Paul (1902) above the lectern.^[3]

A memorial in the church commemorates 52 members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry who died on active service during the Second World War while carrying out secret intelligence work for the Special Operations Executive in occupied countries in addition to providing transport drivers for the Auxiliary Territorial Service. Among the names on the memorial are three holders of the George Cross.^[4]

St Paul's sister parish is the Church of St. Paul's, K street, in Washington, D.C., in the United States.