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- May 28, 2015
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History
St. Paul’s Church is a grade II listed building that overlooks the small town of Denholme. It was designed by J. B. Chantrell and constructed in 1846, and represents an early English style of architecture which comprises a seven-bay nave and lean to aisles, a Chancel and a vaulted roof with ribs and bosses. As for the exterior, the building is built from coursed gritstone with ashlar dressings and it boasts a large western tower with a Welsh slate roof. The church closed in 1999 due to falling numbers in the parish.
In the months that followed the closure of the building, the Church of England were able to remove the majority of the valuable items, such as the bells, the ground floor stained glass windows and the organ. At present, the church is said to be on the market for £170,000 and various plans have been submitted to convert the entire structure into one dwelling. Alternative plans have also been proposed to demolish the church and build residential housing on the site. Many concerns have been raised by local residents and the Bradford Diocese about the current condition of the building as it has been badly damaged by vandals and thieves.
Our Version of Events
It was a cold December morning when eight WildBoyz decided it would be a good idea to have a drive over to Liverpool for the New Year. On our journey towards the beer, fireworks and other celebratory shenanigans, we decided to stop off at a few locations and take some snaps. The first stop-off along the way was St. Paul’s Church, which we spotted as we bombed our way through the small town of Denholme. Keen to get out of the cars and stretch our legs, we parked up in one of the nicest residential estates any proper northern lad has ever seen in his entire life.
Trying hard to blend in with the locals as we walked towards the old church, we made casual conversation about men’s country clothing, golf and skiing in the alps. Our knowledge of such topics was limited, however, so our discussion only managed to get us halfway to the church gates. From that point on, we turned back into a wild throng of yobs. Conversation quickly slipped back to our usual topics: food, boobs and torch chat.
From the graveyard access into the church wasn’t too difficult, thanks to some local Reebok clad chavs. So, within minutes each of us were stood inside the main navel gazing at our ruined surroundings. For the most part, the building is absolutely fucked. Most of the furniture is either broken or stacked into chaotic piles, and many of the old wall plaques are broken and cracked. It seems that some fucking bellend thinks it’s acceptable to smash commemorative tablets… There’s evidence of a fair few holes in the floor too, but the sheer amount of pigeon shit that’s been allowed to build up over the years has covered most of these over. The blue painted ceiling is still rather nice to look at though, especially from the upstairs balcony.
After spending a good few minutes inside the main part of the church, we decided to have a search for a way inside the western tower. At first, access seemed impossible because the only way up appeared to be through a massive hole in the ceiling of the tower, which was a good few metres high. With only a broken ladder at our disposal, which itself was at least three metres to short anyway, all hope of getting up there seemed lost. As it turned out, however, we’d walked past the real way up about several times: a small spiral staircase at the base of the tower near main front doors. Once up inside the tower, we quickly discovered that it was very tower-like. It was clear that it once housed bells, but today it’s merely home to thousands of fetid one-legged pigeons. As the smell of shit brought tears to our eyes we didn’t hang about for very long up there.
And that about concludes our little trip to St. Paul’s Church. It’s damp, mostly trashed and fairly grotty, but it still makes for a good photo or two if you happen to be passing by. Fifteen minutes after arriving, we headed back to the cars and set off in the direction of the famous Queensbury Tunnel. As it was only around the corner, it seemed like a wasted opportunity not to visit it.
Explored with Ford Mayhem, Meek-Kune-Do, Rizla Rider, The Hurricane, Box, Husky and Soul.
St. Paul’s Church is a grade II listed building that overlooks the small town of Denholme. It was designed by J. B. Chantrell and constructed in 1846, and represents an early English style of architecture which comprises a seven-bay nave and lean to aisles, a Chancel and a vaulted roof with ribs and bosses. As for the exterior, the building is built from coursed gritstone with ashlar dressings and it boasts a large western tower with a Welsh slate roof. The church closed in 1999 due to falling numbers in the parish.
In the months that followed the closure of the building, the Church of England were able to remove the majority of the valuable items, such as the bells, the ground floor stained glass windows and the organ. At present, the church is said to be on the market for £170,000 and various plans have been submitted to convert the entire structure into one dwelling. Alternative plans have also been proposed to demolish the church and build residential housing on the site. Many concerns have been raised by local residents and the Bradford Diocese about the current condition of the building as it has been badly damaged by vandals and thieves.
Our Version of Events
It was a cold December morning when eight WildBoyz decided it would be a good idea to have a drive over to Liverpool for the New Year. On our journey towards the beer, fireworks and other celebratory shenanigans, we decided to stop off at a few locations and take some snaps. The first stop-off along the way was St. Paul’s Church, which we spotted as we bombed our way through the small town of Denholme. Keen to get out of the cars and stretch our legs, we parked up in one of the nicest residential estates any proper northern lad has ever seen in his entire life.
Trying hard to blend in with the locals as we walked towards the old church, we made casual conversation about men’s country clothing, golf and skiing in the alps. Our knowledge of such topics was limited, however, so our discussion only managed to get us halfway to the church gates. From that point on, we turned back into a wild throng of yobs. Conversation quickly slipped back to our usual topics: food, boobs and torch chat.
From the graveyard access into the church wasn’t too difficult, thanks to some local Reebok clad chavs. So, within minutes each of us were stood inside the main navel gazing at our ruined surroundings. For the most part, the building is absolutely fucked. Most of the furniture is either broken or stacked into chaotic piles, and many of the old wall plaques are broken and cracked. It seems that some fucking bellend thinks it’s acceptable to smash commemorative tablets… There’s evidence of a fair few holes in the floor too, but the sheer amount of pigeon shit that’s been allowed to build up over the years has covered most of these over. The blue painted ceiling is still rather nice to look at though, especially from the upstairs balcony.
After spending a good few minutes inside the main part of the church, we decided to have a search for a way inside the western tower. At first, access seemed impossible because the only way up appeared to be through a massive hole in the ceiling of the tower, which was a good few metres high. With only a broken ladder at our disposal, which itself was at least three metres to short anyway, all hope of getting up there seemed lost. As it turned out, however, we’d walked past the real way up about several times: a small spiral staircase at the base of the tower near main front doors. Once up inside the tower, we quickly discovered that it was very tower-like. It was clear that it once housed bells, but today it’s merely home to thousands of fetid one-legged pigeons. As the smell of shit brought tears to our eyes we didn’t hang about for very long up there.
And that about concludes our little trip to St. Paul’s Church. It’s damp, mostly trashed and fairly grotty, but it still makes for a good photo or two if you happen to be passing by. Fifteen minutes after arriving, we headed back to the cars and set off in the direction of the famous Queensbury Tunnel. As it was only around the corner, it seemed like a wasted opportunity not to visit it.
Explored with Ford Mayhem, Meek-Kune-Do, Rizla Rider, The Hurricane, Box, Husky and Soul.
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