Church Of Holy Trinity

The Church of Holy Trinity stands on Clapham Common North Side, just off the common itself. Built 1774-6 by the architect Kenton Couse, it replaced the original parish church of St Paul's in Rectory Grove, which had become ruinous and inconveniently located. The church has been modified several times: a west porch was added in 1812 by Francis Hurlbatt; the original apse was replaced by a chancel with a Lady Chapel to the south and vestry and offices to the north in 1902-3 by Beresford Pite; restoration work followed Second World War bomb damage; and further internal adaptations were carried out by Purcell, Miller, Tritton in 1991-4, screening the west end beneath the gallery, creating a central platform, and converting the Lady Chapel into the William Wilberforce Centre.

Exterior

The church is built of stock brick in the classical style, with stone quoins, window surrounds and cornice. Hurlbatt's single-storey Doric porch extends across the west end. The building is two storeys high with arched windows throughout. The west front has five bays, the central three contained within a pedimented projection at first-floor level. These three bays consist of a window flanked by two niches; at ground-floor level, the niches are echoed by a pair of First World War memorials in the form of arched stone wall-tablets. A low stone tower with an octagonal domed belfry sits at the west end.

The return walls have six bays each. Similar extensions dating from around 1902-3 flank the chancel: the former Lady Chapel to the south and the vestry and offices to the north. Each extension contains a door and windows including a Venetian window and a round window. The original east window of the 1776 church was re-used as the Venetian window in the south wall of the Lady Chapel.

At the east end, the chancel projects from the extensions: a brick podium supports three arched windows separated by four stone pilasters, surmounted by a pediment containing a cross. The upper part of the facade is constructed in three different stones. At the centre of the podium, a stone plaque reads 'To the Glory of God MCMII'.

Interior

Galleries run along three sides, supported on fluted wooden Doric columns and reached by staircases to north and south. The coved ceiling has simple decorative plasterwork, restored in 1981. A glazed screen of 1992 closes off the west end. Panelled dado runs throughout. At the east end, the 1776 reredos stands behind the high altar of the 1902-3 chancel.

In the north part of the chancel stands an early 20th-century organ by Alfred Hunter, a local organ-builder who was one of the churchwardens of Holy Trinity. The east windows contain stained glass of 1952 commemorating members of the Clapham Sect and their work.

Monuments include a wall tablet to Bishop John Jebb (died 1833) with a medallion bust by E. H. Baily; a wall tablet to John Venn (died 1813); and at the east ends of the north and south galleries, a striking pair of wall tablets in the form of columns, one to John Castell (died 1804) and the other to John Thornton (died 1790, monument erected 1816), both by J. Bacon Junior.

The original box pews were replaced in 1875. Original benches remain, steeply banked, in the galleries. The simple carved pulpit dates from 1776; originally a three-decker, it was reduced by A. W. Blomfield. The communion table also dates from 1776.

Historical Significance

By 1815, Holy Trinity had become so crowded that the Rector of Clapham, the Reverend John Venn, relayed his sermons to the overflowing congregation by means of a metal speaking tube. This prompted the rebuilding of St Paul's to relieve the pressure.

In the 1790s, Holy Trinity became closely associated with the group of evangelical Christians later known as the Clapham Sect, contemporarily referred to as the 'Saints'. The group flourished in Clapham from 1792 to 1808, initially drawn to the area by the Thornton family—wealthy bankers and cousins to the Wilberforces. John Thornton was a major contributor to the building of Holy Trinity. His son Henry Thornton owned a large house called Battersea Rise, into which William Wilberforce moved in 1792. Others living in the area during this time included Zachary Macaulay and James Stephen. John Venn was rector of Clapham from 1792 until his death in 1813. Granville Sharp and Hannah More were regular visitors and are often associated with the group.

The Claphamites were united by their commitment to 'practical Christianity' which underlay their social and political activities. Their central shared passion was opposition to slavery. Without the combined efforts and talents of the group, the abolition bill would certainly not have been passed as early as 1807. They supported the attempt to develop Sierra Leone as a colony for former slaves, were involved in the formation of the Church Missionary Society (founded 1799) and the Bible Society (founded 1804), and were occupied with the 'reformation of manners' at home.

Between 1799 and 1806, Clapham was home to the African Academy, set up by Macaulay and others to educate boys from Sierra Leone. The baptisms and burials of some of these boys are recorded in the parish registers of Holy Trinity.

The Clapham Sect was a community of families as well as individuals, with several families living in the same or adjacent houses. Domestic Christian commitment was a prominent aspect of their collective ethos. Property in the village of Clapham was expensive and desirable, and the anti-slavery campaigners also counted amongst their neighbours a number of merchants, shippers, and bankers with an interest in preserving the slave trade. Notable amongst these was George Hibbert, a West India Merchant and the foremost Parliamentary opponent of abolition.

By 1808, key figures around whom the Clapham Sect had formed had begun to move from Clapham, although the church remained an evangelical centre.

In the 20th century, a stone plaque was erected on the south side of the church recording the names of several members of the group, who 'laboured so abundantly for national righteousness and the conversion of the heathen, and rested not until the curse of slavery was swept away from all parts of the British dominions.' A Greater London Council Blue Plaque of 1983 in the portico marks the connection with William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect: 'Their campaigning resulted in the abolition of slavery in the British Dominions 1833'.

Setting

A Second World War memorial in the form of a cross stands before the church to the west. The church stands at the northernmost edge of Clapham Common. To the south-east, on the common, stands a drinking fountain of 1884, erected by the United Kingdom Temperance and General Provident Institution (moved from London Bridge in 1895). To the west of the church, numbers 12-21 Clapham Common North Side form a listed terrace dating from around 1720.