Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1856-1857 to the designs of architect Joseph Clarke. The church stands in the middle of a triangular village green.

The building is constructed of flint, some of which is knapped, with stone dressings. The main roof is covered in small red clay tiles, while the spire is clad in Canadian cedar wood shingles.

The church follows an early Gothic style. It comprises a nave with a south aisle that encompasses a side chapel, an east chancel flanked by a vicar's vestry on the north side, a transept and organ chamber on the south side (added 1882-1883), and a bell tower on the south side with an adjoining choir vestry on its west side (added 1934).

The exterior is characterised by angle buttresses on the tower and mostly diagonal buttresses elsewhere, all with offsets. Windows consist of lancets—single, paired or grouped—with stained glass set in moulded, blocked stone surrounds. The main body is under a steeply pitched roof. The three-stage tower has a broached spire with small louvres on each face, added in 1960. The principal entrance is on the south face of the tower, set within a pointed arch doorway of four moulded orders resting on attached shafts with carved foliate capitals. Foliate carvings also form the headstops. The double-leaf doors have chamfered panels and elaborate hinges.

The south elevation displays a single lancet, the projecting choir vestry with two lancets under a pitched roof parallel to the main roof, the tower, two paired lancets in the south aisle with a buttress between, and the gabled transept lit by a two-light window with a quatrefoil in the head. The transept gable is surmounted by a floriated quatrefoil cross. The east side of the transept has a small vertical plank door with bifurcated strap hinges, set in a moulded pointed arch surround. The east gable end is pierced by three single lancets, the central one higher than the others. A stone tablet at sill level records that the dedication was laid in 1856 by the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The north elevation has a single lancet lighting the chancel, followed by the projecting vicar's vestry under a catslide roof, lit by a small lancet on the north and east sides. The nave is lit by two paired lancets and two single lancets; a plank and batten door with decorative strap hinges, set in a pointed arch stone surround, is positioned centrally. Buttresses with offsets stand between each aperture.

The west gable end is pierced by three lancets, the central one higher than the others, with a quatrefoil set in a small circular surround that has a hoodmould.

Interior

The interior is plastered and mostly painted white, including the window surrounds which have hoodmoulds. The principal rafters of arch brace, king-post roof trusses rest on corbels. The nave is separated from the south aisle by a two-bay arcade with moulded pointed arches supported by paired columns with foliage-enriched capitals. The chancel is defined by a moulded chancel arch resting on elongated corbels and has a floor of large red, black and white tiles.

The painted wooden reredos was given in 1901 by Mr and Mrs H Broke in thanksgiving for the safe return of their son Major Broke from the Boer War. It consists of a six-bay arcade of trefoil-headed arches resting on slender columns, and an elaborate raised central section of five trefoil-headed arches with crocketed finials.

Fixed wooden pews have closed backs and simple shaped ends, except for the choir pews in the chancel which have trefoil finials. A raised platform with pews at the west end was originally used for children's seating.

The organ in the south aisle was made in 1909 by Alfred Kirkland of London, though the oak casing was added later. The octagonal stone pulpit, given in memory of Lord Rookwood of Down Hall, replaced an 'ugly pulpit made of stained deal'. It has three visible facets richly carved with open tracery, consisting of two-light trefoil-headed lancets in moulded pointed arches with a quatrefoil in the head. The arches are subdivided by attached marble columns, and the cornice is enriched with foliate carving.

The small font appears to date from around the opening of the church. It has an unusual Gothic design encircled by an arcade of panels, each arch on a stumpy column with a naturalistic-foliage capital.

The Arts and Crafts metal lectern, designed by Harold Stabler, was given in 1911 by the family of churchwarden Horace Broke, in memory of him and his daughter Katherine. The front of its book desk is an open panel of finely-wrought scrolls and leaves with bracketed candle holders at each side, supported on an open stand of geometrical design which bears a memorial tablet.

Stained Glass

Much of the stained glass was installed as gifts from church members. The west window is the earliest gift to the church and has a repetitive quatrefoil design in red, blue and yellow with texts running vertically in the borders of the lancets and symbols in some quatrefoils representing the four Evangelists. It was donated by Reverend Thomas Francis Hall MA, vicar of the parish, in memory of his daughter who was born on 16 August 1840 and died on 26 April 1844. The east window, given in memory of Horace Broke by his family, was designed in 1910 by Read and made by Powell and Sons.