Church Of Holy Trinity

CHURCH OF HOLY TRINITY, BEDMOND ROAD, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD

Designed in 1846 and built between 1847 and 1849 to the designs of architect Raphael Brandon, Holy Trinity is a good example of early Victorian church-building that draws seriously on medieval Gothic precedent with archaeological accuracy. The church was commissioned following a meeting of local worthies held in 1846 at Abbots Hill, the home of John Dickinson, the paper manufacturer and local landowner. The decision was taken to build an Anglican church to serve the expanding population of the Leverstock Green area, which was growing due to the development of the local brick and tile making industry. Land for the church was given by Lord Verulam. The contract was signed in August 1847 with Mr Lilley of Measham for £1,591, 10 shillings and 6 pence, with stone mason Mr Elliot of Leicester. The church opened in 1849 with 404 seats, of which 350 were free.

The building is constructed of flint-faced walls with sandstone dressings. A remarkable and visually significant feature is the use of polychromy in the heads of the window and door arches, created by tiles and bricks set voussoir-wise. This polychromatic treatment is particularly early for its date—polychromy generally did not appear until the 1850s—and some details, such as the chancel south-west window which incorporates small flint lozenges amid the tiles, brick and stone, resemble Arts and Crafts work. The parish hall and ancillary walls are fully covered with red tile hanging. Roofs are of brown clay tile, with the parish room having a flat lead roof with a brown tile-hung central roof.

The church comprises a four-bay nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, chancel, north-east vestry flush with the east end, and parish room to the west of the nave. There is no tower, but instead a double bellcote is set on the west gable of the clerestoried nave, with both gables of the bellcote having a prominent gable cross. The clerestory windows are formed of small quinquefoiled and quatrefoiled piercings. The lean-to aisles contain two-light windows with varied tracery forms derived from the early 14th century, though a square-headed Perpendicular window appears in the north-east part of the north aisle. The west window is also of two lights with early 14th-century tracery. The chancel tracery is more elaborate than that in the body of the church. The east window is of three lights with inventive tracery including elongated mandorla shapes embracing trefoils. The chancel's two south-facing windows each have a different type of tracery design. The chancel is slightly lower than the nave, and at its north-east corner the vestry is placed under a catslide roof.

The interior walls are plastered and painted white, including surfaces that were originally bare stone. The principal architectural feature is the arcading between the nave and aisles, which has double-chamfered arches lacking hood moulds. The piers alternate between octagonal and circular forms, with opposite piers having different sections. The capitals are moulded and the bases chamfered. The arch between the nave and chancel is sharply pointed with two sunk-chamfer mouldings. The roof over the nave is plain and seven-sided, as is that on the chancel. The aisle roofs are plain lean-tos.

Original or near-original fixtures include a bold octagonal font with large sunk trefoils on the bowl, and simple benches with L-shaped ends dating to circa 1849. The chancel contains notable stained glass comprising patterned glass in the east window and figurative glass in the south windows. A wooden polygonal pulpit was designed by Maxwell Ayton in 1901. A significant refitting took place in 1932 under architect Walter Tapper, who provided the stalls, stone altar, and a beautifully-designed coved rood screen. The screen was repositioned further east in the chancel and the stalls were moved during a reordering in 1986.

John Raphael Brandon (1817-77) was a well-known London-based church architect who worked with his younger brother Joshua Arthur until the latter's death in 1847. The brothers were authors of An Analysis of Gothick Architecture published in 1847. Walter John Tapper (1861-1935), born at Bovey Tracey in Devon, became chief assistant to the Victorian church architects Bodley and Garner before establishing independent practice in 1893. He was consulting architect to York Minster from 1907 and surveyor to Westminster Abbey from 1928, being knighted in the year of his death. He was buried at Westminster Abbey.