Church Of The Holy Trinity

This parish church was built in 1885-7 to designs by Mr. A.E. Lloyd Oswell of Shrewsbury. It replaced the old ruined Church of the Holy Trinity in Bicton, which had been a chapelry of the Church of Saint Chad in Shrewsbury. The new church was consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield on 16th September 1887, at which time Bicton was made a separate parish. The construction cost £3,400, with Mr. Groves as builder and Mr. R. Yeomans as foreman carpenter; Yeomans also made and donated the lectern.

The church is constructed of snecked dressed Alberbury and Redhill breccia with red and grey sandstone ashlar dressings, including bands, and has plain tile roofs. It comprises a three-bay nave with south aisle, south porch, two-bay chancel, north vestry, and a south-east tower positioned in the angle between the chancel and aisle. The design follows an early Decorated Gothic style.

Tower

The tower has three stages with a double-chamfered plinth and diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets. String courses mark the belfry level and run below the parapet, which is battlemented in ashlar with moulded coping. A square south-west stair turret features chamfered offsets and broaches leading to an ashlar octagonal top stage fitted with arrow loops and a battlemented parapet. The turret has chamfered rectangular staircase windows, and at its base is a nail-studded boarded south door with strap hinges, chamfered reveals, shaped heads, and flanking buttresses with chamfered offsets and trefoil-gabled tops.

The belfry openings consist of two louvred trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoils in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, and hoodmoulds with scrolled stops. The second stage has a hollow-chamfered lancet to the south and chamfered trefoil-headed lancets to the east and west. At ground-floor level, a chamfered lancet to the east has a moulded cill and hoodmould with scrolled stops, whilst the south side has a two-light window with quatrefoil in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, returned hoodmould, and cill string. A clock is positioned below the belfry to the south.

Nave

The nave has a chamfered plinth, buttresses with chamfered offsets (with angle buttresses to the west), a cill string course, chamfered stone eaves, and parapeted gable ends with stone copings and crosses at the apices. A string course runs through the apex to the west. The north side features a two-light north-west window and two three-light north-east windows, all with trefoils and quatrefoils in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, moulded cills with scrolled stops, and returned hoodmoulds. The four-light east window displays Y-tracery incorporating three cinquefoiled circles, hollow-chamfered reveals, and a returned hoodmould.

South Aisle

The south aisle has a chamfered plinth, buttresses with chamfered offsets (angle buttresses to the west), chamfered stone eaves, and parapeted end walls with stone copings. There are two pairs of chamfered lancets. The two-light west window has quatrefoil in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, a hoodmould with scrolled stops, and a cill string course. The south doorway is located in the left-hand bay and features a chamfered arch, hoodmould with scrolled stops, and a nail-studded boarded door with strap hinges.

Porch

The porch has a chamfered plinth, low angle buttresses, and a parapeted gable with coping, a cross at the apex, and a string course in the apex with three stepped flutes above. The moulded archway includes one order of shafts with moulded capitals and bases, a chamfered inner arch, a hollow-chamfered outer arch, and a hoodmould with carved heads as stops. Low paired lancets pierce the sides. The interior of the porch has a trussed-rafter roof, chamfered segmental rear arches, and side benches.

Chancel

The chancel features a double-chamfered plinth, buttresses with chamfered offsets (angle buttresses to the east), a moulded cill string stepped up to the east window, chamfered stone eaves, and a parapeted gable end with stone coping and cross at the apex. An internal lateral stack to the north has weathering and chamfered offsets to the sides, each with gables above containing three stepped flutes, and a circular shaft with trefoil panels to the moulded cap.

The east window comprises three stepped lights with trefoils and quatrefoils in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals, and a returned hoodmould. A foundation stone is set in the plinth beneath this window, inscribed: "To the honour and Glory of God / this Stone was laid on 6th August 1885 / by the Rt. Revd. Bishop Bromly D.D: later Tasmania. / The site was given by Col. Wingfield. / G.N. Lloyd Vicar / Col. Wingfield ) Churchwardens". George Gittins )

The north and south sides of the chancel each have a trefoil-headed lancet with chamfered reveals and returned hoodmould.

Vestry

The vestry is of one storey with an attic. It has a chamfered plinth, chamfered cill string, buttresses with chamfered offsets, and a parapeted gable with stone coping, string course, and cross at the apex. Two chamfered lancets to the front have a continuous hoodmould with scrolled stops, and above them in the gable is a quatrefoiled circle with returned hoodmould. Steps lead down to a boarded crypt door to the right. A doorway in the left-hand return front has chamfered reveals, a Caernarvon-arched head, and a nail-studded boarded door with strap hinges. A lean-to structure to the right contains a boarded door to the front with strap hinges and chamfered reveals, and a chamfered rectangular window to the side.

Interior

The three-bay south aisle arcade consists of circular piers with moulded bases and capitals, double-chamfered arches, and a continuous hoodmould with scrolled stops. Chamfered piers to left and right have carved foliate capitals. A moulded cill string runs along the west wall of the nave.

The three-bay nave roof features cusped arched-braced scissor-braced trusses springing from small hammer beams with curved braces that rest on moulded stone corbels. The roof includes a moulded wall plate, ashlar pieces, simpler intermediate trusses, and single purlins.

The chancel arch is double-chamfered, with the inner chamfer springing from short wall shafts with moulded capitals and bases and resting on moulded corbels, whilst the outer chamfer is continuous. A hoodmould with scrolled stops completes the composition. Between the south aisle and the organ chamber beneath the tower is a double-chamfered arch, with the inner chamfer dying into responds. Double-chamfered vestry and tower arches to the north and south of the chancel have the inner chamfer springing from carved foliate corbels and the outer continuous, with hoodmoulds bearing scrolled stops to the west and carved foliate stops to the east.

A moulded cill string runs at the east end of the chancel. Sedilia are positioned beneath the south window, and a piscina beneath the north window has a scalloped bowl and side shelves. The chancel roof is of trussed-rafter construction with a billet-ornamented moulded wall plate. Chamfered rear arches are found throughout the church at windows and the south door, the latter also having a hoodmould with scrolled stops.

Fittings and Features

The church retains complete fittings from circa 1885-7. The altar is backed by a three-sided wooden screen consisting of circular columns with hangings between. The stone reredos has two moulded ogee trefoiled-arches to each side, with painted inscriptions of the Lord's Prayer, Commandments, and Creed. Wrought-iron altar rails feature twisted stems, decorative brackets, and a wooden rail.

The choir stalls survive, along with a boarded wooden vestry screen with billet-ornamented top rail. A plain organ to the south has painted pipes. A low stone chancel screen with chamfered top and square piers includes an integral polygonal pulpit to the left, which has a stone base and wooden top with trefoil-headed open panels and billet-ornamented top rail.

The wooden lectern consists of two shafts with moulded bases and capitals and a triangular-section top with carved quatrefoil panels and billet ornament. Original pews remain throughout. The circular marble font stands on an octagonal step and has an iron-bound wooden cover. An inscription at the base of the font reads: "To the glory of God and in memory of Sophia Cotes January 25 1885". Encaustic floor tiles are laid throughout.

The east window contains stained glass of 1892 by C.E. Kempe, and the south aisle glass of 1894 is also by Kempe. A panel near the south door bears the inscription: "THE ACETYLENE LIGHTING WAS / INSTALLED IN THIS CHURCH / IN 1913 TO COMMEMORATE THE / 25 YEARS MINISTRY OF THE / VICAR THE REV. F.S. EDWARDS".