St Paul's Catholic Church

About St Paul's Catholic Church

St Paul's is the Roman Catholic parish church of Alnwick, standing on Percy Street in the town's Conservation Area. The building was designed by the noted Gothic Revival architect Anthony Salvin and constructed in 1845-46 for the 3rd Duke of Northumberland, at a cost of around £12,000. Built as an Anglican church in squared stone rubble under a slate roof, it is a large and serious-minded essay in the Decorated style, comprising a nave with north and south aisles, a west tower and a north porch. It became a Catholic church in 1982, when the parish transferred from the smaller former church of St Mary's.

The interior is rich in features, including an exceptionally fine east window of 1856 designed by William Dyce and executed in Munich, commemorating the 3rd Duke, whose cenotaph by J. E. Carew stands in the north chancel chapel. An octagonal stone font of 1846 and original pews with foliage decoration survive, while the Stations of the Cross were brought from St Mary's when the parish moved. The church serves Catholic worshippers in the town and surrounding district as part of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.