Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity

A parish church of considerable architectural importance, with a 13th-century west tower, early 14th-century chancel, and late 14th-century nave with north and south aisles. The building was restored in 1875. Construction is of fieldstone and flint with dressings of clunch and limestone. The roofs are covered in slate and copper.

The west tower comprises four stages and is embattled. The original buttressing remains on the west wall. In 1589, Thomas Sutton (whose date and initial are recorded in the buttress to the north wall) added a three-stage buttress with moulded plinths to the north and west walls. The west doorway is blocked and obscured by later buttresses but retains its two-centred moulded arch with engaged shafts to the outer order. Above it is a west window of three lancets, also partly concealed. The first and second stages of the south wall contain 13th-century lancets. The bell stage has two quatrefoil openings with plate tracery set within two-centred arches.

Inside the tower, the gable of the original nave roof is visible in the east wall. The clerestory is a 19th-century restoration or casing of the original, constructed in gault brick. Each side of the clerestory has six windows with vertical tracery.

The south aisle and south porch were rebuilt in the late 14th century by John Sleford (died 1401), who was rector. The walls are cement rendered with limestone dressings to windows and two-stage buttressing. The roof is parapetted with a splayed plinth. Five windows, since restored, contain three cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery. The south porch has a restored roof but retains its original gable end parapet of two pitches with beast gargoyles. Diagonal buttressing and splayed plinth match those of the south aisle. The outer arch is of clunch, two-centred and of two orders: the outer order is hollow and roll moulded, whilst the inner order is hollow chamfered on engaged columns. The inner archway has been restored. It is two-centred and chamfered, set in a square head with dagger ornament to the spandrels, and has a label with male and female masks. The door is 16th-century with original plank and muntins.

The chancel is early 15th-century and was much restored in 1875. It is constructed of flint and stone dressings, with an original clerestory. The fenestration of the south and east walls retains restored reticulated tracery. A 19th-century vestry adjoins to the north.

The north aisle is late 14th-century with a north doorway of clunch. The arch is two-centred with mouldings similar to those of the south doorway, set in a square head.

The interior features a mid to late 13th-century tower arch of clunch. This is a two-centred arch of three hollow-chamfered orders, with the two inner orders resting on engaged columns with moulded capitals and bases. North and south nave arcades consist of six bays with two-centred arches of two wave-moulded orders resting on piers composed of half-octagonal columns to north and south sides and to responds. The piers have moulded capitals and bases. A continuous label with mask stops runs above the piers. The clerestory and roof were rebuilt in the 19th century, though the roof jackposts rest on medieval corbels. The north and south aisles have late 14th-century roofs of six bays with moulded longitudinal mainbeams and principal rafters with bosses at their intersections.

The north chapel contains a screen with early 17th-century sunk panelling, strapwork overthrow, and wood sculpture of St Nicholas. Some medieval stained glass survives in the tracery of the windows of the north aisle. The chancel screen is 15th-century with some later restorations. It comprises seven bays including a larger centre bay, arranged in two stages with canopy. The upper stage is open, now glazed with vertical tracery to the heads and slender engaged shafts between the bays. The canopy has rib vaulting and a moulded entablature. The closed lower stage has cinquefoil subcusping to two panels and vertical tracery to the heads of each bay. Within the chancel, the rear arches of the original early 14th-century windows remain visible.

The choir stalls are 15th-century and particularly fine, probably a gift of John de Sleford. There are ten stalls to the north and south walls and six return stalls on either side of the screen gates. They feature carved misericords, elbows, and traceried back panels with coving, alongside contemporary prayer desks and pew ends. The roof was rebuilt in the late 17th century incorporating medieval carved beams with staggered butt purlin.

The font is 13th-century with an octagonal bowl on a wooden stem and base, and has a fine carved 19th-century cover. A Saxon tomb slab is located at the west end of the nave, and a 19th-century bier in a carriage stands in the south aisle. A 17th-century communion table is in the north chapel. Two brasses commemorate the dead: John de Sleford (died 1401), with a Purbeck slab and elaborate brass indent on the south side of the chancel, and John Blodwell (died 1462) on the north side.