Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity

This is a parish church in Lambley, with origins in the 11th and 12th centuries, extensively modified in the 13th and 14th centuries, and largely rebuilt around 1470 by Ralph Cromwell. The building is constructed of dressed stone with plain tile roofs, and features chamfered plinths, moulded and chamfered eaves, and moulded coped parapets.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, vestry, and south porch. The west tower has four stages, with 13th and 14th-century work visible throughout. It stands on a stepped plinth with three string courses, coved eaves with four spouts, and a crenellated parapet. Two clasp buttresses flank the western side. The second stage has small lancets to the north, south, and west. The third stage features round-headed openings with hood moulds on the north and south faces, with a doorway to the east and a 13th-century triple lancet with hood mould to the west. The fourth stage contains four 14th-century cusped double lancets with hood moulds.

The north side of the nave shows remains of an adjoining building and two buttresses with three setoffs. Three 15th-century triple lancets with panel tracery are positioned here, alongside a blocked 14th-century doorway. The south side has three buttresses with four setoffs and three triple lancets, all openings bearing hood moulds.

The chancel is two bays long with a string course and coped gable surmounted by a cross. The north side displays remains of an adjoining building and a double lancet with intersecting tracery and segmental head to the east. The east end features a five-light traceried lancet flanked by single panels containing the badge of Ralph Cromwell, with a pair of diagonal buttresses and four setoffs. The south side has two 15th-century triple lancets and an off-centre priest's door, all openings with hood moulds. The priest's door includes mask stops. A late 20th-century gabled vestry has a door to the west and a casement on each side. The restored south porch has a coped gable, two flanking buttresses, and a plain doorway with hood mould.

The interior contains stone benches, including one made from an incised alabaster tomb slab. A purlin roof of re-used timber spans the building. A restored roll-moulded doorway with four-centred arched head serves as the main entrance. The tower arch, dated to the 13th century, features a chamfered round head with round responds and waterleaf capitals. On the north side of the nave, to the east, a doorway and winder stair lead to the former rood loft, with doorways above providing access to the pulpit and rood loft. The south side has a 14th-century piscina with a doorway above it to the rood loft. The nave has a low pitched roof.

The chancel is archless and contains a screen dated to 1377, extensively restored in 1966. The north side features an ogee-headed 14th-century doorway and above it a chamfered squint. The east end is furnished with a 20th-century timber reredos and a window containing 15th-century stained glass. The south side has a four-centred arched aumbry and a 13th-century cusped piscina. Both south windows contain 14th-century stained glass fragments.

Church fittings include an early 19th-century font with four baluster-shaped shafts, an octagonal stem, and a faceted octagonal bowl, paired with an early 19th-century cover. An octagonal oak pulpit with sounding board dates to 1918. An early 17th-century altar rail with balusters remains, alongside 20th-century stalls and desk incorporating 17th-century carved fragments. An 18th-century oak chest, 19th-century lectern and benches, and various memorials are also present. Memorials include an incised alabaster slab, a pedimented tablet of 1830, and a panelled oak war memorial commemorating 1918 and 1945.