Church of the Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

This church on Kilwardby Street was built in 1838-40 by Henry Isaac Stevens of Derby as a daughter church to St Helen's, and was granted parish church status in 1860. The chancel was extended in 1866 by James Piers St Aubyn. It is constructed in ashlar stone with a slate roof and is designed in the lancet style with galleries.

The church is oriented north to south. A three-stage tower stands at the north (liturgical west) end, featuring set-back buttresses that terminate in gables below the belfry stage, a crenellated parapet above a corbelled band, and octagonal corner pinnacles with spirelet finials. Above the moulded north door is a lancet window with shafts, and the belfry has tall louvered lancet windows. The nave comprises seven narrow bays with tall lancet windows and interval buttresses, topped by a parapet above a corbel table. At the north end, moulded pointed-arched doorways and lancet windows with shafts are positioned in the first bays. The chancel is narrower and lower than the nave, with a triple-lancet window on the south (liturgical east) side, parapets above a corbel table, and set-back buttresses. A small vestry stands on the chancel's east side.

Internally, the nave features a tie beam and queen post roof of 1838, plastered in front of the rafters and above the collar. The queen posts have pendants with decorative traceried panels between them and the principal rafters. Three circular ventilator grilles are set in the nave ceiling. A raked gallery runs around three sides of the nave on cast iron columns, supported by decorative cast iron brackets that carry shallow king post timber trusses beneath the gallery floor. The gallery fronts are decorated with modest Gothic panelling and retain a complete original set of seats, with three upper doorways providing access at the north end.

The chancel has a large moulded arch and a ceiled canted roof divided into panels by ribs. A cast and wrought iron chancel screen dating from 1891, designed by Skidmore, separates the chancel from the nave. The stone reredos features three panels of sculpted relief figures beneath cinquefoil-headed arches, with a gabled stone frame at the centre. Above it, the liturgical east window contains brightly-coloured stained glass of 1866. A large circular pulpit of circa 1889 stands in the nave, with a cornice carved with leaves, thick marble columns with carved leaf capitals, and a moulded stone base; its stem is concealed beneath a modern raised floor at the south end of the nave. The octagonal stone font has sunk panels decorated with trefoils on the sides and a moulded octagonal stem and base. Nave benches of 1886 have shouldered ends with chamfered corners and decorative sunken roundels.

The spire of 1840 was dismantled in 1899. The church underwent internal reordering in the late 20th century.