Burnley Road, Rawtenstall
St Paul's Church has its beginnings in the eighteen seventies when a mission was set up as a branch St Mary's, the Parish Church of Rawtenstall and was in a warehouse above Leebrook Foundry. In the late eighteen nineties between two and three hundred new homes were built in the area which created a real demand for a church to be built. A plot of land had been donated in 1882 by Richard Hardman of Cliffe Tower, and with the day school and Sunday School already having been built it was decided to build the church on the elevated land at the rear of the school playground.
The finance for the building was raised by the efforts the people connected with the mission and by generous donations from the Brooks family of Crawshawbooth, who were also responsible for helping with the building of St John the Evangelist at Crawshawbooth. The plans for the church were drawn by Austin and Paley of Lancaster, who were also responsible for designing St John's Crawshawbooth and St John's Cloughfold. The foundation stone was laid by Thomas, Lord Crawshaw on the 20th July 1901 and the church was consecrated on the 19th March 1903 by the Bishop of Manchester. The church was served by the curates of St Mary's until 1913 when it became a separate parish and the curate-in-charge the Rev. W Cole became the first vicar.
