Holy Trinity Church

BARSHAM TM 38 NE 4/3 Holy Trinity Church 1-9-53 GV I Parish church. Medieval; south Chantry Chapel rebuilt 1908, replacing the original which was demolished in 1785. Nave, chancel, west tower, north chapel, north sacristy and organ chamber, south porch. Flint rubble with remains of plasterwork; stone dressings. Thatched roof to nave, plaintiles to chancel. Round tower, in 3 phases: the lower part, which is not later than Cll, has 3 C12 lancet windows; the slightly narrower belfry stage incorporates some red brick, and has C15 openings (missing tracery) to each quarter. The tower is surmounted by a spike. The nave is probably Cll, the west angles being constructed of field stone; there is one early, perhaps original, window in the west wall. To the south the nave has 3 C14 2-light windows. Late C14 porch (restored) and nave doorway. Simple unmoulded north doorway. C14 chancel: to the south there is a broad lancet window, 2 2-light windows (one renewed) and an unmoulded Priest's doorway. The whole of the chancel east end is decorated with a lozenge grid of flushwork, the design being carried through as tracery across the whole of the window; this stone tracery was renewed following storm damage in 1906. It is described by Pevsner as 'a unique conception'; the most likely date is the early C17 when the chancel roof was renewed. Sacristy and organ chamber of c.1880, incorporating re-used C14 windows. Interior. C14 2-bay chapel arcade. The nave roof was renewed following a fire in 1979. Early C17 5-bay chancel roof, said to be dated 1633; the wallplate is inscribed 'Joseph Fleming Rector'. The panelled ceiling with Jacobean-style plasterwork was added in 1906. In the sanctuary is a piscina with cusped ogee arch, and adjacent a drop-sill sedila. Good C15 carved octagonal font; in the chancel is a disused C12 font with a square tapering bowl. Early C17 square pulpit, the base and tester both renewed; the pulpit stairs, with turned baulsters and the date 1636, may once have formed part of the altar rails. The rood screen incorporates early C17 work but has been much restored: the figures above the rood beam were added in 1893 and the painted rood canopy in 1919. 2 good monuments in north sanctuary: in the floor an early C15 brass effigy of a knight; recessed in the wall a richly moulded terracotta tomb chest to Sir Edward Echingham (1527). C18 ledger slabs in chancel. The east window has stained glass of c.1875 by Kempe, 28 of the panels containing a single figure. Stored in the chapel are 4 hatchments and Arms of Anne and George III.

Listing NGR: TM3969989633