Holy Tirnity Church (Church Of England)

Holy Trinity Church, Cottered Road, Throcking

A parish church of the Church of England, with the parish amalgamated into Cottered in 1932. The building is of mixed periods: the lower part of the tower dates to the 13th century, while the early 15th century saw the construction of the perpendicular nave and chancel as a single volume (the former chancel was later demolished). A 15th century south porch was added, and the upper part of the tower was rebuilt in brick in 1660 for Sir Thomas Soame, as recorded by a panel on the south face. Mid-19th century restoration work under Reverend William Adams included a steeply pitched roof, additional matching pews, and new glazing. An organ chamber and vestry were added around 1879, with an organ, pulpit, lectern, and further glazing installed at the same time.

The main body comprises flint rubble plastered with stone dressings. The tower base is constructed of coursed unknapped flint and pebbles, with knapped flint facing around the windows and stone quoins and dressings. The vestry extension is built in knapped flint. The upper part of the tower is of red brick with stone quoins and moulded brick details. Roofs are steeply slated, with an old red tiled porch. The building is small, with a west tower and a gabled vestry and organ projection on the north side. Diagonal stone buttresses with flint flushwork are positioned to the west of the nave and east of the chancel.

The chancel is separated from the nave by one step and features a three-light 15th century traceried east window with stained glass depicting the Good Shepherd, made around 1879 by Clayton & Bell. A small original door on the north wall now leads to the vestry, with a 19th century stone screen to the organ beside it. A tall single-light 14th century window on the south wall has a 15th century traceried head. A 17th century poppy-head bench in the chancel is carved with acrobats. The nave contains two-light 15th century traceried windows with ferramenta in the north and south walls, and a 15th century south doorway with moulded jambs and four-centred arch under a square label with carved spandrels. Six consecration crosses are painted at irregular intervals along each wall. The floors are of polychrome tiles. The roof is a steep timber structure of five bays with hammer-beams and arch-braced collars.

A 15th century tower arch features shafted jambs, moulded capitals, and a four-centred head. The unbuttressed square tower below has deeply splayed lancet windows on its north and south sides at the base, dating to the 13th century, and three-light 15th century traceried windows on the west face. The upper brick section of 1660 is distinguished by a moulded gauged brick floor band and ovolo moulded eaves band. Stone quoins mark the corners, while a polygonal southwest turret sits on an ogee moulded corbel. Round-arched openings in each face retain Y-tracery on the west and east sides. A plain parapet is topped with stumps of corner pinnacles. A moulded brick date panel on the south face bears a shouldered architrave and scrolls. The south porch is gabled with some flushwork diagonal buttresses and a moulded stone plinth continuing around the nave and chancel. The porch entrance is a four-centred arch with moulded jambs and square label, with graffiti visible on the door jambs. A single-light window is set in the east wall. The porch has a clasped-purlin roof.

Interior fittings include a 15th century octagonal clunch font with panelled stem and sides, 17th century benches in the nave with 19th century copies, and fine heraldic floor slabs to Thomas Soame (1670) and Robert Elwes (1752). A fine pedimented inscription tablet to Robert Elwes (1753) by Rysbrack features a rococo cartouche and coat of arms beneath. On the west wall stands a fine broken pedimented marble monument to Robert Elwes (1731), while a neo-Grecian marble monument on the north wall commemorates Hester Elwes (1770) and was made by Nollekens, featuring a seated female figure by an urn. The church represents a small late medieval building with an unusual west tower and fine 18th century monuments.