Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church was built between 1851 and 1852 on land previously part of the Castle Hall estate. The surrounding area was laid out in a grid pattern, and the church was the first of several important civic buildings constructed in the mid to late 19th century. Designed by Edwin Hugh Shellard (1815-1885), a Manchester-based architect known for his ecclesiastical work in the mid-19th century, Holy Trinity reflects the Church of England’s initiative to provide more places of worship in expanding industrial towns. A significant reordering and redecoration occurred in the 1990s, involving the replacement of pews and the renewal of heating and electrical systems.

The church is constructed of snecked stone with a slate roof. It comprises a nave, chancel, aisles, clerestory, a west tower and a north porch. Architectural details include a projecting plinth, a parapet above a moulded band with gargoyles and moulded copings, and weathered buttresses diagonally set at the corners of the aisles. The aisles feature three-light windows with rectilinear tracery and hoodmoulds, the clerestory has two-light windows with rectilinear tracery and hoodmoulds, and the east window contains five lights. Raked gable parapets are topped with cross finials. The three-stage west tower has angled buttresses, a weathered plinth, a crocketed ogee hoodmould over the west door, a three-light transomed west window, clock apertures in the second stage, and two two-light belfry openings in the third stage with matching crocketed ogee hoodmoulds, and is castellated. Inside, octagonal columns with moulded capitals support the nave arcade, and there is a West gallery. The interior also features arch-braced roof trusses.