Church of the Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

This Anglican church displays architecture from four main periods. The transepts, crossing and lower stage of the tower date from the early 13th century and are built in the Early English style. The early 14th-century work, in the Decorated style, includes the upper stages of the tower, nave, arcades and aisles. The late 15th century saw the addition of the chancel, clerestory, panelled battlements, north porch and the west end of the nave, all in the Perpendicular style. The spire was added in 1763 by William Hiorn of Warwick to a design by Timothy Lightoler. The church underwent restoration in 1836-7 and 1839-41 by Worcester architect Harvey Eginton, and again in 1884-98 by George Frederick Bodley and Thomas Garner. There have been alterations, repairs and additions in the 20th and 21st centuries. A 21st-century single-storey extension running parallel to the south aisle is not included in the listing.

Materials and Construction

The church is constructed of squared and coursed local stone, including Arden stone, Blue Lias stone, Cotswold limestone and Hornton stone. The dressings are predominantly of Hornton stone. The spire is built of Warwick stone. The roofs are covered in lead.

Plan

The church has a cruciform plan with a five-bay 'weeping chancel' (the chancel represents Christ's leaning head as he died on the cross), a central crossing with tower and spire above, two-bay transepts and a six-bay nave with arcade and lean-to aisles, and a north porch. There is an early 21st-century single-storey addition accessed from the south aisle which runs parallel to the nave.

Exterior

The gabled west end is flanked by offset buttresses and is set forward of the lean-to north and south aisles. The 15th-century four-centred arched doorway has a 15th-century door with Perpendicular tracery. Above is a continuous moulded sill band and three inset niches with crocketted pinnacles set within the large, Perpendicular, west window. The south aisle windows comprise three, three-light windows with Decorated tracery and a Perpendicular window and a smaller two-light window to the east bay. The bays are articulated by offset buttresses, each with gablets and crocketted finials which rise above the parapet, beneath which are cylindrical water spouts. The arcaded clerestory windows are closely set and surmounted by a battlement.

The gabled south and north transepts each have a five-light, traceried window within a two-centred arch and a spherical triangular window above. The angled, offset buttresses are surmounted by a diagonally-set shaft with gablets, blind tracery and head stops to the base of each pinnacle. To the side elevations are lancet windows, and to the east side of the south transept is a lateral stack with a 19th-century monument to its base.

The five-bay chancel is articulated by offset buttresses which rise to form diagonal shafts carved with blind tracery with decorative hoodmoulds, and each surmounted by a gargoyle. The diagonal, offset buttresses to the east end have 21st-century gargoyles and crocketted pinnacles. The eight-light side windows and the seven-light east window have Perpendicular tracery and are set within double-chamfered arches with decorative hoodmoulds with crockets and insect-form label stops. The chancel has a continuous moulded plinth and battlements with blind tracery with a stone cross to the apex of the gabled east end. To the south side of the chancel is the 15th-century priest's door with four-centred arched head and restored tracery. Above the Gothic arched doorway is an elaborately crocketted hoodmould.

The north aisle has a moulded plinth, offset buttresses and a coped parapet. The three-light windows have varied tracery and show a progression in date from east to west. The west window of the north aisle is interrupted by the 15th-century two-storeyed north porch. This has a moulded plinth with carved quatrefoils and substantial offset diagonal buttresses. The central 17th-century battened and studded north door is set within a two-centred arch of three orders with a three-light traceried window above with flanking niches. The battlements have a central cross to the apex and decorative pinnacles to the corners. There is a single cusped light with crocketted hood to the east and west elevation, and a stair turret to the west side.

The lower stage of the tower has small, early 13th-century, round-headed windows. There are 13th-century two-light belfry windows to the middle stage, and 14th-century rose windows to the upper stage. To the south-west corner is a stair turret. The tower has a decorative eaves cornice with battlements above and square pedestals with blind tracery and crocketted pinnacles to the corners. The octagonal 18th-century spire has three tiers of arched openings. There are several 18th-century rainwater heads.

Interior

The north entrance leads into the late 15th-century north porch which has a rib vaulted ceiling with angel corbels to the four corners and a central boss depicting Christ in Majesty (mutilated at the time of the Reformation). There are the mutilated remains of a holy water stoup to each of the four corners of the porch. To the east and the west wall is a stone bench and a single splayed window, set within otherwise blind arcading with ogee heads. The inner doors are late 15th century, with linenfold and traceried panels and a 13th-century sanctuary knocker. From the north aisle a newel stair leads to the first floor of the porch which has a fireplace and moulded beams.

The nave has a five-bay arcade of early 14th-century hexagonal piers with moulded capitals and double-chamfered two-centred arches. The spandrels have blind arcading with cusped heads, with the late 15th-century arcade of clerestory windows above. Cluster wall shafts run from the carved angel corbels above each pier to the brattished corbels that support the nave roof. The restored 15th-century roof comprises moulded principal rafters and tie beams with traceried arch braces, and the panelled ceiling is decorated with bosses. At the west end of the nave is the 19th-century font, a replica of the medieval font in the chancel, and at the east end is a dark green Italian marble pulpit with figures in white alabaster by Bodley and Garner (1900). Above the crossing arch is a Gothic organ case, also by Bodley and Garner, and installed in 1898. At the south-east corner of the nave is a stair turret to the belfry, with a Perpendicular door and the remnants of medieval wall painting.

The north aisle has a restored roof, an inserted shop at the west end, and a 19th-century screen to the Clopton Chapel at its east end with linenfold panels, arched heads, vine leaf cornice and brattishing. The Clopton Chapel contains many elaborate tombs and memorials, including Hugh Clopton's chest tomb set within the arch between the chapel and the nave and comprising two four-centred, panelled arches; that to the west is narrower with concave-sided, octagonal piers, blind tracery, Tudor rose cornice and brattishing. The chest tomb on the east wall is to Hugh Clopton's eldest daughter Joyce, and her husband Thomas Carew, who was King James I's Master of Ordnance and comprises two recumbent effigies under a coffered round arch with flanking Corinthian columns supporting angels, and the coats of arms above. On the front panels is a bas-relief of powder barrels, cannon balls, guns and a flag. To the north wall, the chest tomb of William and Anne Clopton has two recumbent effigies and a panel above depicting their seven children and coats of arms. The north window of the chapel contains fragments of medieval glass.

The south aisle has a 14th-century roof of moulded beams supported on corbel heads. The chantry chapel at its east end was removed following the Reformation, and the sedilia to the south wall are late 19th-century replicas.

The octagonal crossing is supported on four cluster piers with chamfered arches. It has a 19th-century rib vaulted ceiling with gilded Green Man corbels and a central boss of the Holy Trinity, from which hangs an early 18th-century chandelier.

The medieval rood screen has been relocated to the north transept (to shield the choir vestry), and the carved heads that have been applied to it are the ceiling bosses from the original 13th-century chancel roof.

The screen to the south transept (St Peter's Chapel and vestry) is an early 20th-century First World War memorial.

The heavily restored 15th-century rood screen has tracery heads and vine-leaf cornice and brattishing. The chancel has a hammer beam roof with carved angels and shields, supported on corbel heads. Between the side windows are blind crocketted window heads. The east window is flanked by 15th-century niches with insect-form corbels and crocketted hoods; the statues (1893) are by Farmer and Brindley to the designs of Bodley and Garner. The choir stalls have 19th-century backs by Bodley and Garner, but the seats with carved angels on the ends of the armrests and richly-carved misericords with a range of domestic scenes, mythical beasts and foliate motifs are late 15th century. The north door, now blocked externally, has an elaborately carved hoodmould showing St Christopher with the infant Jesus on the left and the Resurrection on the right. To the left of the door is the mutilated medieval font. The priest's door to the south wall has a crocketted hoodmould. The piscina and sedilia to the left have elaborately carved canopies with ogee arches and crocketted finials. Underneath the two canopies to the left are carved Tudor roses, whilst that to the right has a carved head of Christ or the vernicle. Beneath the sedilia and the piscina are carved busts of angels. The 19th-century altar has a traceried front and reredos and is surmounted with the mensa (altar top) from the medieval altar in the chantry chapel. The brass altar rail is 19th century. The five Shakespeare family ledger stones now form the second chancel step. That to William Shakespeare is inscribed:

GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE TO DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE BLESTE BE THE MAN THAT SPARES THES STONES AND CURST BE HE THAT MOVES MY BONES.

The monument to Shakespeare is on the north wall of the chancel and is attributed to Gheerart Janssen of Southwark. It comprises a demi-figure of Shakespeare set within an aedicule with coffered round arch and Corinthian columns. Above is the coat of arms granted to the Shakespeare family in the late 1590s with a cherub to either side; one holding an inverted torch and the other a spade. The whole is topped by a skull. Other memorials in the chancel include the chest tomb of Dean Balshall (died 1491) with canopied relief scenes of the Passion and the Resurrection to the side panels; the chest tomb of John Coombe (died 1614) by Gheerart Janssen with a recumbent effigy under a round arch, a strapwork frame to the inscription panel and flanking Corinthian columns, cornice and obelisks to either side of an armorial panel; a memorial tablet to Judith and Richard Coombe (died 1649) by Thomas Stanton and similar to the memorial to Shakespeare, it has two busts holding hands, and three armorial cartouches over a segmental pediment; memorial to James Kendall (died 1751) and his wife, Jane (died 1769) by Rysbrack. There are many other good 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th-century wall tablets and ledger stones throughout, as well as a First World War memorial plaque in the south transept engraved with a poem by Rudyard Kipling.