h Ward, which contains nearly all that is most interesting of
old Paddington. The old parish church, named St. Mary's, stands to the
north of the Harrow Road. It is a small building of earth-brick in the
form of a Maltese cross, with a cupola in the centre, supposed to have
been designed after a Greek model. The side fronting the road has a
portico, and on the south and west walls there are curious niches formed
by bricks. The interior is heavy and ugly, with a massive circular
gallery running round three sides. The pulpit stands right over the
central aisle, supported by the steps on one side and the reading-desk
on the other, making thus a curious arch under which everyone must pass
to reach the Communion rails; it is of mahogany which has been painted,
and the figures of Dutch oak on the panels are supposed to be Flemish
work. The church holds about 800 persons. There are many monuments and
tablets on the walls, but only two worthy of note: one in memory of Mrs.
Siddons, who is buried in the churchyard, on the north side of the
chancel; one to Nollekens the sculptor, who died 1823, on the south
side of the chancel. This is a bas-relief of a man seated by the side of
a pallet or bench, on which rests a woman holding a baby; behind, an
angel, representing Religion, points upward. The apparently irrelevant
subject excited much comment until an explanation was suggested. In the
Howard Chapel of Wetherall Church, in Cumberland, there is a sculptured
monument in memory of one of the ladies of the Howard family who died in
childbirth. The bas-relief over Nollekens' tomb is the facsimile of this
sculpture, with the exception of the male figure in the foreground. The
sculpture was executed by Nollekens himself, and is supposed to be one
of his masterpieces. The monument to Nollekens is, therefore, obviously
representative of the sculptor himself executing this great work. The
present church was built in 1791, and stands on the site of a pond. Its
predecessor was dedicated to St. James, a saint to whom the present
parish church has returned, and stood a little to the northward on the
site of the present right of way.

But this itself was only the successor of a still more ancient building,
of which Newcourt says: "As to the church here, I guess it was dedicated
to St. Katharine, because, before the old church was pulled down, I
observed the picture of St. Katharine to be set up in painted glass at
the top of the middle panel of