Church Of The Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

This church, located on Church Road in Long Itchington, dates from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with significant additions in the early 14th and 15th centuries. It was restored in 1928. The building is constructed of coursed lias rubble interspersed with sandstone blocks, with sandstone plinth, buttresses, quoins and eaves cornice. The roofs are of plain tile and 20th-century tile.

The church comprises a chancel, nave with south aisle, and west tower. The spire was mostly blown down in 1762 and subsequently truncated to an octagonal form.

The early 14th-century chancel consists of 4 bays with a chamfered plinth and offset buttresses. A moulded string course runs below the window sills, and a cross marks the apex to the east. The restored east window has 5 ogee-headed lights with intersecting and quatrefoil tracery, with a hood mould and 14th-century carved head labels. To the south are three 14th-century windows: those to the left and right each have 3 restored lights, while the central window has 3 lights with Y-tracery. A 14th-century doorway below the centre window has 2 moulded orders and a pointed-arch head, now fitted with a 20th-century plank door. Three additional 14th-century windows to the south each contain 3 lights, those to left and right with Y-tracery and the centre with cusped lights. A 19th or 20th-century stone gabled vestry with a doorway to the west incorporates a re-used 14th-century window to the north of 3 ogee-headed lights with reticulated tracery, ovolo-moulded surround and hood mould with carved head labels.

The early 14th-century nave is of 4 bays with a chamfered plinth, offset buttresses and moulded eaves cornice with 19th or 20th-century coped gables. To left and right is a 14th-century window of 3 lights with moulded and chamfered surrounds, the mullions continuing to meet the arch without individual lights. The centre contains a 19th or 20th-century window of 2 cusped lights with trefoil tracery. A 19th or 20th-century stone gabled porch has a doorway of 2 orders on shafts with moulded capitals and bases, with single-light windows to east and west. Within the porch lies the 14th-century doorway with a many-moulded pointed-arch surround, hood mould and labels, retaining original iron hinges. The porch is fitted with 20th-century double plank doors. A 15th-century clerestory runs along north and south with 3 and 4 square-headed windows respectively, each window containing 2 ogee-headed cusped lights.

The early 13th-century south aisle comprises 4 bays with a moulded eaves cornice, one surviving gargoyle remaining. To the east is an early 14th-century window of 3 lights with Y-tracery, and to the right of the east wall another early 14th-century window of 2 lights with Y-tracery. Early 13th-century pointed lancets are positioned to the left, centre and west. A round-headed south doorway has 2 moulded orders, the inner continuing to ground and the outer supported on shafts with moulded capitals. Original iron hinges remain, and the doorway is fitted with 20th-century double plank doors.

The west tower has offset diagonal buttresses rising to the top, with a chamfered plinth and moulded eaves cornice with damaged gargoyles. An embattled parapet is topped with finials at the angles. To the west is a pointed-arched window of 2 cusped lights with cusped tracery. Immediately above this window, continuing around the north, is a 14th-century band of sunk quatrefoils. Loop-lights appear on all 4 sides, that to the east now opening within the nave. Bell-chamber openings have 2 mullioned and transomed lights within segmental pointed heads.

Interior features include an east window with a moulded rere-arch and hood mould with labels. The 14th-century doorway now leads to the vestry. South of the chancel are 14th-century sedilia of 3 stepped seats within cusped arches with a crocketed gable and poppy-head finials. A 14th-century double piscina to the left has 2 cusped lights with trefoil within the tympanum. A 14th-century Easter sepulchre to the north is set within a cusped arch of 3 moulded orders and a crocketed gable with poppy head to the apex and finials to either side. A moulded string course runs beneath the window sills. The 14th-century chancel arch has 3 shafts with moulded responds, with a cusped squint to the right.

The south aisle arcade originally contained 4 bays but now has 3, the western bay having been blocked in the 15th century. The arcade features octagonal shafts with moulded bases and capitals. Two tomb recesses on the south wall have elongated cusps within many-moulded surrounds, and a simple cusped piscina is positioned towards the east. A pointed tower arch of 2 orders is set above a 14th-century band of sunk quatrefoils.

The chancel has a 19th or 20th-century king post roof. The nave roof is a 19th or 20th-century hammerbeam design supported on 15th-century carved head corbels. The aisle roof is supported on 14th-century carved head corbels to the south.

Interior furnishings and monuments include a late 17th-century communion rail with turned balusters and a restored screen with 14th or 15th-century cusped tracery supported on later shafts. A monument in the north chancel wall commemorates John Baswork, who died in 1674, featuring an inscribed brass with a surround of 2 Corinthian capitals supporting a cornice and semi-circular broken pediment. 19th-century monuments appear in the north nave and south aisle walls. On the south aisle wall is a wood panel painted with heraldic arms, hour-glasses and skull and cross bones, recording a bequest by Lady Anne Holbourne of 50 pounds per annum to the parish priests and parish poor, probably dating to the 17th century.