Church Of Holy Trinity

The Church of Holy Trinity is a parish church dating to 1863, designed by J. & W. Hay of Liverpool as a replacement for a medieval building. It is constructed of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings, and has a graduated Lakeland slate roof with ornamental purple tile cresting.

The church comprises a west tower, a three-bay aisleless nave with a south porch, and a chancel with a south organ chamber and a north vestry. It is built in the free late 13th century style. Chamfered plinths and a moulded sill string run throughout. The tower features large diagonal stepped buttresses and a south-east stair turret, which is semi-octagonal in its upper stages. The west front has boarded double doors set within a moulded arch and flanked by a two-light window; smaller trefoil-headed windows are present on the north side and adjacent to the stair turret. A moulded string is set back below the belfry, which contains stepped lancet windows under truncated gables. The three-stage broach spire has symbols of the evangelists as gargoyles at each corner of its base, moulded strings, gabled lucarnes, and a wrought-iron finial cross. The porch has a double-chamfered arch and a spheric triangle window on each side, along with stone benches and a Minton-tiled floor, topped with a scissor-braced roof. The nave has stepped buttresses and mostly paired trefoil-headed windows, each with a pierced trefoil above. Small trefoil windows are set into the east gable peak, and two small gabled dormers with trefoil-headed windows and finials are present on each roof slope. The organ chamber and chancel have similar windows, and the east end features diagonal buttresses and a three-light window. Hoodmoulds have carved stops. Coped gables are present on moulded kneelers, and finial crosses top the structure.

The interior is plastered. The tower has a double-chamfered arch leading to a renewed west gallery. The moulded chancel arch rests on keeled responds, and the chamfered organ chamber arch is adjacent. A carved stone pulpit is also present. The sanctuary is tiled and features a panelled stone and marble reredos. The nave roof consists of scissor-braced trusses on head corbels, alternating with arch-braced collar-beam trusses; the chancel section has a panelled-wagon roof.

An octagonal limestone font is decorated with shields, two bearing the letters "R" and "E" (likely relating to Robert Ellerton, abbot of Egglestone 1476-95), and one with the “RK” monogram, probably for King Richard III (similar font found in Barnard Castle parish church). An incised slab marks the grave of Thomas and Alice Blande, dating to around 1390, and is located beneath the altar. A worn 14th-century female effigy stands to the north. Six 13th-century cross slabs are positioned in the porch, including a priest’s slab with a chalice, book, and blessing hand, and a 17th-century slab with an inscription that runs in a spiral.