Parish Church Of The Holy Trinity And Churchyard Wall

The Parish Church of the Holy Trinity is a large medieval church dating mainly from 1300 to 1425. The transepts were built between 1300 and 1320, the chancel from 1320 to 1360, the nave from 1389 to 1418, and the tower around 1500. Vestries were added to the south-east in 1873 and around 1930. The church underwent major restorations in 1841–45 by HF Lockwood and 1859–72 by George Gilbert Scott.

Exterior

The building is constructed of brick and ashlar with ashlar dressings and lead roofs. It features a plinth, sill band, string courses, and buttresses topped with crocketed pinnacles, along with traceried and crenellated parapets throughout. The plan comprises a nave and chancel, both with aisles, transepts, a crossing tower, south porch, south chapel, and vestries.

East End

The buttressed east end has a crested parapet with quatrefoils to the chancel and a central niche topped with a pinnacle. The chancel features a central larger seven-light window flanked by single five-light windows, all with elaborate flowing tracery and hoodmoulds. The clerestorey has ten lancets. The north and south chancel aisles each have five four-light windows with simpler flowing tracery.

The single-storey vestries adjoining the south chancel aisle have a plinth, string course, and traceried crenellated parapet. Their windows are Perpendicular lancets with flat heads and label moulds. To the left are two triple lancets flanked by similar double lancets (the far left one without a label mould). To the right is a pointed-arched door and, to its right again, two triple lancets. The east end has a similar window.

The single-storey Broadley Chapel, to the left and restored in the 18th century, has a central gabled buttress and angle buttress to the right, both topped with pinnacles. It features two traceried Perpendicular triple lancets with Tudor arched heads and ogee hoodmoulds with finials.

Transepts

The brick transepts have six-light lancets with pointed quatrefoils and spherical triangles. Above each is a quatrefoil window. To east and west are simpler triple lancets, those to the south transept being truncated. The restored north doorway has a moulded head and triple filleted shafts. The south gable has a buttressed, gabled porch with stone slate roof and blocked doorway. On either side of the porch are single 20th-century three-light windows.

Nave

The nave's west end has a nine-light lancet with panel tracery and a hoodmould. Above it is a traceried parapet with a central figure niche topped with a pinnacle. Below is a doorway with a moulded cusped arch and ogee hoodmould with finial. On either side of the doorway are three cusped canopied figure niches. The clerestorey has sixteen triple lancets.

The aisle west ends have seven-light lancets. On either side are eight similar five-light lancets. All the windows have hoodmoulds.

Crossing Tower

The crossing tower has two stages with gabled angle buttresses on the lower stage and clasping buttresses above, topped with pinnacles. It has an openwork parapet with four intermediate pinnacles. The lower stage has on each side two triple lancets with depressed segmental heads and hoodmoulds. The bell stage has on each side two pointed triple lancet bell openings with ogee hoodmoulds and pinnacles. All the transoms are crenellated. On each side is a skeleton clock dial.

Porches and Other Exterior Features

The south-west porch has a plinth, string course, and crenellated parapet. It features a moulded doorway with hoodmould. On the east side is a segment-headed recess containing a blocked double opening. The interior has a low pitched roof with moulded ridge and rafters, and a restored moulded doorway with hoodmould and angel stops. The doors are traceried panelled double doors. Three memorial tablets date from the late 17th and late 18th centuries.

To the right, under the fifth aisle window, is a segment-headed double doorway, now glazed, leading to the former Alcock Chantry from the late 15th century. To the right again is a single-storey parapeted vestry from 1932 with three flat-headed triple lancets. To its left is a lower boiler house in a similar style with two double lancets.

Interior

Choir

The choir has five-bay arcades with piers featuring four round shafts separated by four hollows, foliate capitals, and moulded arches with hoodmoulds. The ambulatory in the eastern bay has a memorial window from around 1920 by Clayton & Bell. Below it is a wooden war memorial from around 1920 in the form of a reredos with a canopied central niche.

The east end has a stone reredos from 1886 in 15th-century style with a crested canopy to the central triple niche, and flanking stone screens, with similar screens in the east bays of the arcade. The western bays have traceried wooden screens with doorways in the centre bay. The clerestorey has ten windows with hoodmoulds and a sill band. The restored low pitched roof has painted panels and bosses.

Choir Aisles

The choir aisles have similar unpainted roofs. The south aisle has a stained-glass east window from around 1920, and south side windows from 1951, 1918, and 1880. Under the east window is a panelled wooden war memorial. The south side has to the east a window opening with a piscina below, from the former Eland Chantry of 1542. To the west are two 19th-century doors with Tudor and pointed arches. To the west again is a cusped ogee headed tomb recess with traceried crest and pinnacles, containing two life-size alabaster effigies to Sir William De La Pole (died 1366) and Lady Katharine (died 1381). Beyond this is a canopied tomb recess opening into the Broadley Chapel, with cusped opening, buttress shafts, and crockets. The north aisle has a stained-glass east window from around 1860.

Crossing

The crossing has clustered piers with filleted round shafts with hollows between them, and moulded arches with hoodmoulds. An elaborate painted lierne vault covers the crossing. The east arch has a Perpendicular style wooden screen from 1900, and the north-east pier has an ogee headed rood loft door with finial. The south arch has the 15th-century chancel screen, now glazed, restored in 1846 and resited in 1900. Above it is a 20th-century organ case. The north arch has a three-tower organ case from around 1876, resited in 1908, with a Tudor arch to the passage below it.

Transepts

The transepts have to east and west moulded arches with hoodmoulds and quatrefoil piers with filleted shafts. All except the north-eastern arch have been heightened. The eastern arches have traceried 15th-century screens. The roofs are low pitched and arch-braced, dating from the 19th century.

The south transept has a central doorway flanked by single 20th-century stained-glass windows, and the main south window has stained glass from 1892. The west side has a 19th-century chamfered doorway. The east side has a doorway flanked by single leaded windows, all with ogee heads, leading to the Broadley Chapel. Above is a stained-glass window from 1907.

The north transept has a draught screen to the north door. The west side has a stained-glass window from 1924. The east side has two cusped recesses, probably piscinas, and a lattice panelled door with a depressed ogee head.

Broadley Chapel

The Broadley Chapel (formerly the De La Pole Chapel), restored in the mid-20th century, has a low pitched roof with fleurons. The east end has a three-light memorial window from around 1920, flanked to the left by a canopied vaulted niche with a figure. The south side has to the east a cusped and crocketed piscina and two memorial windows from around 1920. The north side has a canopied and buttressed tomb recess opening into the south choir aisle.

Nave

The nave has eight-bay arcades with slender piers featuring four round shafts with hollows between them. They have small foliate capitals and moulded arches with hoodmoulds and angel stops. The clerestorey has sixteen triple lancets with bar tracery, hoodmoulds, and a sill band. The restored low pitched roof has cambered tie beams, bosses, and painted panels. The west end has a 19th-century stained-glass window with a crenellated sill band, and a segmental arched inner porch with draught screen topped by the Royal arms.

The aisles have similar roofs to the nave, with unpainted panels. The south aisle has a near-central doorway to the south porch and above it a stained-glass window from 1952 by HJ Stammers. To its left is a four-centred arched opening to the former Alcock Chantry. To the left again are two stained-glass windows from 1897 and around 1907 by Walter Crane.

Fittings

The fittings include a 14th-century octagonal font with concave sided crocketed gables and figure carving, and buttressed minor shafts. There is a marble topped carved communion table and relief carved wooden reredos from around 1770. The octagonal stone pulpit has gabled niches in Decorated style, and a curved stone stair and balustrade, dated 1846 by HF Lockwood. A huge brass eagle lectern with richly decorated platform and steps dates from 1847 by George Parker. The late 19th-century choir stalls incorporate 14th- and 15th-century bench ends, some of them carved. A large oil painting from 1811 by James Parmentier has been reduced in size.

Memorials

The memorials include a resited effigy from around 1380 to Eleanor Box, and a brass with half-length figures from 1451 to Richard and Margaret Byll. There is a bust in a pedimented surround with columns from 1624 to Thomas Whincop. A tablet with inscribed drapery from 1718 commemorates Mark Kirby. A tablet with cartouche and seated female figure from 1772 commemorates Nathaniel Maister. A marble and ashlar tablet from 1812 by John Earle commemorates Henry Maister. A bust on pedestal from 1837 commemorates William Woolley, and a tablet to John Parker from 1841, both by WD Keyworth Senior. A marble and slate tablet showing the church organ from 1838 commemorates George Lambert, organist.

There is a freestanding monument with bust and an angel assisting a man to Thomas Ferres from 1859; a tablet from 1860 to John Appleyard; an arch topped monument with angel and two children from 1860 to J W Grey; and an urn flanked by two mourning women from 1876 to Thomas Earle—all by Thomas Earle of Hull.

Churchyard Wall

Outside, the boundary wall on the north, south, and west sides dates from the 19th century. It is of ashlar with a moulded plinth, coping, and rounded corners. To the west is a pair of octagonal ashlar gatepiers with cross-gabled caps and a pair of late 20th-century metal gates. On the south side is a similar gateway. To the east is a single gateway on the north and south sides.