Trinity United Reformed/Methodist Church and Hall

Trinity United Reformed/Methodist Church and Hall is a Methodist church complex built between 1906 and 1907 to designs by the architectural firm Gordon and Gunton. Constructed in the Gothic style, the complex uses Kentish ragstone with Bath stone dressings and plain tile roofs throughout.

The extensive complex occupies a sloping site that rises towards the south. The church itself stands at the southern end, oriented on a north-south axis, with a tower positioned at the south-west corner and a polygonal apse at the north end. The church has side aisles and transepts. Attached to the north-west end of the church is the polygonal North-West Wing, which contains the vestries. The North Wing runs on an east-west axis to the north of the church and houses two halls along with other rooms. This ancillary wing is separated from the southern buildings by a hallway with linking passages, which was re-roofed in 1991. Between the North Wing and the eastern transept lies the East Range, which contains offices and kitchens on the ground floor, with a passageway between the North Wing and the church above. The Caretaker's House stands to the east of the site.

The church features a tall square south-west tower, which serves as a landmark and is the most striking architectural element of the building. Each side of the tower has an elongated two-light opening with Decorated tracery, a pierced parapet, and angle buttresses topped with pinnacles. The short spire is supported by a lantern formed of curved buttresses decorated with ball flower ornament. The main entrance is located on the west face of the tower, with a pointed-arched doorway beneath an ogival moulding, reached by a flight of steps. The nave has a clerestory of single-light cusped-headed windows with quatrefoils, while the aisle windows below are of two lights with curvilinear tracery. The west transept contains a large window three lights high and three lights deep. The tall apse is pierced by two-light windows set below the eaves. The large three-light west window has Perpendicular ogival tracery. On the east side of the church, the tower is balanced by a south-east porch, now used as a servery. A single-storey stone shed dating from the later 20th century has been built between the porch and the transept, obscuring the lower part of the elevation.

The polygonal North-West Wing projecting from the north-west end of the church has a pyramidal roof. Each facet of the west end is framed by buttresses and contains two tiers of fenestration, with each window being of two lights. The wing is approached by a wide external stair with a wrought-iron balustrade, leading to a flat-roofed entrance block. To the north of the North-West Wing is a screen with stone door and window openings, giving access to the hallway between the North Wing and the church.

Within the North Wing to the west is the five-bay Main Hall. Each bay on the north elevation has a four-light window with Perpendicular ogival tracery set within a pointed segmental arch with battered reveals, with the bays flanked by buttresses. Against the west gable wall is a polygonal apse. At the east end of the wing is a two-storey section. On the ground floor, the Minor Hall is lit by three-light cusped square-headed windows below hoodmoulds on the north elevation, while the Parlour above is lit by four linked paired windows of similar form. On the gabled east elevation there is a square-headed window of five ogival lights to the Minor Hall and a pointed-arched window with Perpendicular tracery to the Parlour. Between the two halls is a projecting gabled entrance bay with a wide arched doorway and a mullioned and transomed window above. In both parts of the North Wing the roof is set back behind a parapet, and there is a bellcote on the ridge.

The East Range is relatively plain, with mullioned and transomed windows and two small doorways, one reached by an external stair.

The church has a wide nave separated from the aisles and transepts by arcades of pointed arches on clustered columns. The narrow aisles are semi-barrel-vaulted, with radiators housed within segmental-arched recesses beneath the windows. The church has a hammerbeam timber roof supported by corbels on shafts that rise from between the arches. The tall pointed chancel arch has an internal order rising from corbelled shafts. To the east of the chancel arch are two pointed openings to the organ chamber. Within the apse, the roof braces rest on shafts at each angle, rising from ball-flower stops. The apse windows are defined by a continuous hood-moulding, and the stained glass in the apse is contemporary, or near contemporary, with the church. The church's west window has its original diamond-paned glass with painted motifs depicting fig, lily, and rose. Smaller panes have fleur-de-lys and Tudor rose motifs, repeated in the aisle windows.

The church retains an almost complete set of contemporary fittings, largely of carved timber. These include the altar, enriched with blind tracery in Perpendicular style, together with a reredos bearing the text 'I am the Bread of Life'. In front is the wrought-iron altar rail with a timber rail. The choir stalls with panelled ends are connected to the low chancel screen with its blind quatrefoils. New handrails have been added to the chancel steps. The pews, also with panelled ends and fittings for sticks, largely remain, though a section to the rear of the church has been removed. To the west of the chancel arch is the polygonal pulpit, its stone base richly carved with roses, passion flower, and vines. The upper part is of timber with blind tracery and is approached by a stair with a wrought-iron handrail. There is a plainer reading desk to the east of the chancel arch. The organ, in a chamber to the east of the chancel, was installed in 1922 but had been built by Harrison and Harrison for a mansion in Northamptonshire and was reconstructed to harmonise with the woodwork of the church by Messrs Henry Willis and Sons. The organ was renovated in 1946 and in 1993. The console now stands in the north-west part of the nave. The church's internal glazed doors are original. At the south end of the church is the war memorial, taking the form of a timber altar with simple blind tracery, with a large brass plaque above commemorating the fallen of the First World War and a smaller plaque below commemorating those of the Second World War. Additional stone plaques are placed to the west and the east. The original wrought-iron Art Nouveau electric lighting, with floral stems above curled leaves, survives throughout the church.

The North-West Wing is entered at first-floor level from the west, which is level with the church owing to the slope, preceded by a square entrance block which gives access to the west transept of the church. To the north, the Minister's Vestry is entered via an inserted lobby. The room, with its polygonal west end, has a coved ceiling above a moulded cornice. A passage leads to a small WC and then to the Deacon's Vestry, which has direct access to the west aisle of the church via a narrow pointed-arched doorway. The room is divided by a wide segmental pointed arch. On the ground floor is the former Sunday School, now the Terrace Room café, which has a new raised area to the east, presumably replacing a similar earlier arrangement.

Within the North Wing, the Main Hall has a timber roof of four trusses with arched braces on moulded corbels. The upper part of the trusses, above the tie beams, is now hidden by a false ceiling. There is a woodblock floor. At the west end is a stage, and the east entrance is surrounded by later cupboards. The Minor Hall has a plain cornice and skirting and a woodblock floor. Between the two halls is a wide passage with a terrazzo floor. Above the Minor Hall, accessed by an open-well stair beneath a lantern, is the Parlour, with elaborate leaded glazing to the door. The Parlour has an open timber roof and a fire-surround with a Tudor-arched opening, a two-tier overmantel, and tiled cheeks and hearth. The window's glass is highlighted with ivy motifs in stained glass. Also on the first floor is the Choir Vestry, which has a simple wooden fire-surround and fitted cupboards. A passage to the south leads to the church.

The hallway which separates the North Wing from the church, enclosing the lower part of the apse, has a terrazzo floor and a 1991 roof with a central lantern and areas of glazing. The hallway, passages and stairwell all have a high plastered dado with bare red brickwork above. Each of the glazed segmental-arched doors has a room name painted on it.

To the east of the site stands the Caretaker's House. This is built of the same materials as the other buildings, with stone lintels to the windows, though all the windows have been replaced. A tall stone stack rises to the south-east. The house is rectangular on plan with gable ends to the north and south and is entered from the west.

A low ragstone boundary wall with a chamfered stone capping encloses the site to the west, north and south, being stepped downwards from the north along the western boundary. There are openings in the western section to the south and north, respecting the entrances, and in the northern section in front of the entrance to the North Wing. At the east end of the North Wing the wall stops, allowing for the driveway running to the east of the church buildings. To the east of the opening is a pier with a moulded stone cap decorated with quatrefoils.