This red bricked church was one of the last churches to designed by local architect George Edward Bond and built between 1913-14.
It was officially dedicated in 1914.
Bond died in May that year. He had designed several other churches in Chatham, all of which survive today in other guises: the Ebenezer Congregational (now Emmaus), the Primitive Methodist (now a spiritualist church) and St. Andrew's Presbyterian (now King's).
These were all buildings set on the sides of very steep hills and this one on the border of the Luton area of Chatham is no exception. It was Bond's only Anglican commission, and the interior is very similar in design to two churches in nearby Gillingham designed by the Cutts brothers: St. Barnabas (1889) and St. Luke the Evangelist (1909). There is a small side chapel to the south of the chancel. This church is often erroneously referred to as St. Paul's, as in 1974 the Parish became known as St. Paul's with All Saints. St. Paul's was a Victorian church from 1854 on the New Road that was demolished in 1974 for road widening and an urban regeneration scheme (a block of flats is there now). The congregation was larger than at All Saints and transferred to this building. Today it is a church at the heart of its community which is among the most deprived in Kent. There are a number of community projects and in recent years they have acquired the use of the former Magpie pub next door to use as a drop-in and community centre.
Text by Rob Baker
