A photographic tour

We start with the view across the village green where the Gothic style of the church architecture is immediately apparent. This is clearly the most popular view of the church as there are more pictures taken from this direction than any other.

This is the church from the east. The picture is taken from Windmill Lane over a small field called Dean's Acre. The field was donated to the university on condition that no buildings be erected on it in order to preserve this view of the church. The view includes the modern extension to the church which can be seen on the right hand side of the building.

This is a closer view of the east end of the church taken from the churchyard boundary. Only a small part of the modern extension can be seen on the right of the picture, which is on the north side of the building.

The church from the south, seen from the grounds of Lord Deramore's School. None of the modern alterations can be seen from this side, so the view is virtually unaltered since Victorian times.

Here is a closer view from the south, showing the path through the churchyard leading to the south porch. This was the main entrance to the church before the alterations. It is still used for weddings and funerals and other special occasions. The porch now has a modern outer door made from limed oak and glass.

Looking upwards and to the left gives an impressive view of the church tower with its steeple.

An example of the lancet windows of the church which are reminiscent of the early English style of church architecture. The pair of lancets shown here give rise to stone tracery above them. The decorative hood moulds, or drip stones, project above the windows to protect them from rainwater running down the walls. They end in label stops carved as human heads. Similar carvings are present inside the church also.

Lord Deramore's personal entrance to the church. It leads directly into the choir of the Victorian church. Lord Deramore also has his own personal boot scraper at the bottom of the steps on the right, but it's not on the photo — we need a better picture! Does he always arrive at church with muddy boots?

Commemorative stones on the external west wall of the tower. The upper stone refers to the building of the Victorian church, opened in 1858. The lower stone refers to the building of the modern extension, opened in 1973.

The modern extension is entirely on the north side of the church and the new main entrance, shown here, is on the western end of this.

Part of the modern extension seen from the east. In front of the building in the centre of the picture is the original Victorian font, now containing an interesting display of flowers.

A bit more of the extension can be seen on the left of this picture of part of the churchyard. The flowers show the position of the memorial ashes plot, while the brick wall behind and to the right is the walled-off area containing the graves of the Deramore family. The chimney in the background belongs to the university heating plant.

Upon entering the church we find ourselves in the narthex. This is an ecclesiastical word for entrance lobby. Originally, a narthex was joined to the nave, but separated from it by a partition. It allowed people who would not normally be admitted to the service (those not yet baptised or penitents) to see and hear what was taking place. The rooms of the extension are mainly to the left of the picture while entrance to the nave of the church is through doors to the right.

Let us now enter the nave and this is what we see looking west. The pillars on the right show the extent of the Victorian church; everything to the right of the pillars is part of the extension, in particular, the sanctuary. The congregation is seated on three sides of the sanctuary, giving the feeling of 'church in the round'. Dominant on the west wall is the organ. It occupies some of the first floor of the tower and extends over part of the nave. It was built in 1888 by Forster and Andrews of Hull for Groves Chapel, a Methodist church near the District Hospital. The chapel closed as our building was being extended and the organ was transferred to Heslington.

This is the nave looking east. Almost all that can be seen in this view is part of the Victorian church. In particular, you can see the original chancel and choir at the east end, which is now separated from the nave by a screen with sliding doors. The chancel and choir have been transformed into a beautiful and intimate chapel which is used for small services and private prayer. The brass wall plaques on either side of the chancel arch were part of the old Norman church which the Victorian building replaced.

These give a more detailed look at the wall plaques from the Norman church. The one on the left contains the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The one on the right contains the Ten Commandments.

Here is the sanctuary surrounded by the communion rail, with the splendid oak altar in the centre. The beautiful flower arrangements are done every week by an amazing group of ladies. They consistently do a wonderful job, carried out with real expertise, always showing good taste and imagination. The cross above the altar is suspended from the ceiling, but only the bottom part of it appears in the photo.

This is a better view of the cross. As is fitting for a church in the round, it is very much three-dimensional, so it appears as a cross from all directions. Prominent in the picture are the letters Alpha and Omega — the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the language of the New Testament. This is a reference to Revelation 22:13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." At the top of the cross (and not so clear in the picture) are the letters INRI. These stand for "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum" — Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews. This was the Latin inscription on the cross at Jesus' crucifixion.

This is the east window, which is now part of the side chapel. It is a good example of Victorian stained glass in a pleasing geometrical pattern.

This is the side chapel, converted from the chancel and choir of the Victorian church. It is separated from the nave by a glass screen with sliding doors, giving it an intimate atmosphere. The chapel is well used for small services and private prayer.

The jewel in the Victorian church (and there's nothing to beat it in the modern building) is the reredos (the screen behind the altar). It was a later addition to the Victorian church, erected at the cost of Mrs. Bateson de Yarburgh, a resident of Heslington Hall. It is now part of the side chapel, shown here with the original altar and communion rail. The carved and painted stonework forms a series of alcoves containing very fine mosaics. The centre piece is a Maltese cross, which is also picked out on the altar cloth. This is a reference to St. Paul, to whom the church is dedicated, and who was shipwrecked on Malta. Above the cross are the letters IHS, commonly seen in Christian churches. These are the first three letters of the name 'Jesus' written in Greek and transliterated into the Latin alphabet. The next thing that catches the eye are the pictures of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who are featured in the following photos. Notice also the two richly-carved ceremonial oak chairs.

The four evangelists are worth a closer look and here they are. They are executed in very small tiles on a rich gold background. Each one holds a book, the front cover of which has a picture of the classical symbol he is associated with. For Matthew, it is a man (depicting humanity and reason); for Mark it is a lion (courage and monarchy); for Luke it is an ox (sacrifice, service and strength); for John it is an eagle (a figure of the sky — John describes many things with a 'higher' level of theology than in the Synoptic Gospels). Each creature has wings as described in Ezekiel 1:10 and in Revelation 4:7. Neither of these references links the creatures to the evangelists, but their meanings gradually accrued over the centuries.

Here is the beautiful mosaic floor of the side chapel, laid at the same time that the reredos was built. It is made of encaustic tiles which are produced by baking or burning the pigment into clay. It has a border which is reminiscent of Roman mosaics and consists of three large medallions. The one in the foreground is a pelican with three of her young. In mediaeval times, the pelican was thought to be particularly attentive of her young to the point of providing her own blood when no other food was available. The mosaic shows the pelican wounding her breast and letting the blood fall towards her chicks. The pelican thus became a symbol of the Passion of Christ. The largest medallion in the centre contains the letters IHS inside a highly decorated circular border. The significance of IHS was considered above. The far medallion depicts three fishes intertwined in a circle. The fish is a Christian symbol that dates from the end of the 1st century. The Greek word for fish is icthus, the letters of which are the initial letters of the Greek words meaning Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour. The three fishes together represent the Trinity. A clearer picture of part of the floor can be seen in the photo of the side chapel above.

This is the magnificent eagle lectern made of polished brass which resides in the side chapel. The eagle, with wings outstretched, stands on top of an orb representing the world. The eagle is the symbol used to depict John the Apostle, whose writing most clearly witnesses the light and divinity of Christ.

St. Paul's, Heslington, is a four-font church (not many people know that). At the top left is the font from the original Norman church on this site. It was moved to Heslington Hall when the church was demolished and later sold when the university took possession of the hall. Only recently has it been traced and retrieved. The Victorian font (top right) is now at the east end of the church containing a floral display. It is beautifully carved out of Caen stone. We also have the marble font from the Methodist church in the village (bottom left), obtained when the two congregations came together at St. Paul's. The fourth font is the modern one (bottom right). It was made out of stainless steel for the opening of the extension and is the one in current use.

We have already seen the wall plaques and font which came from the old Norman church. The only other remains from that church are the two bells, originally cast in 1388. They were refurbished in 1989 and rehung in the tower. The plaques on the right commemorate this. It can be seen that the dedication of the bells is to St. Paul (Campagna Sancti Pauli) and the Virgin Mary (Campagna Beatae Mariae).

The windows in the north and south walls of the side chapel are all memorials to Mary Elizabeth Bateson de Yarburgh. She was resident in Heslington Hall when the Victorian church was built and she paid for the reredos that we have just admired. This window shows a nativity scene.

The other two memorial windows are scenes from the resurrection. The first is the women being told about the resurrection by the angels in the tomb - "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" The second scene is Mary recognising Jesus in the garden - "Raboni, Master!"

Visitors always show an interest in the war memorial window shown here. It is near the south porch and is a memorial to the men of Heslington who lost their lives in the First World War. The second picture shows the dedication of the window.