Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

A substantial stone church built in 1861-2 by Charles Edward Giles of Taunton, with furnishings introduced from 1891 by Charles Barker King. The church was erected at the expense of three sisters, Agnes Percy, Ellen Thompson and Louisa Julia Percy. The foundation stone was laid on 12 April 1860 and the church was consecrated on 2 August 1862.

The building is constructed of sandstone rubble. The tower roof is shingled, while the remainder of the church was re-roofed in the 20th century with pantiles.

The church has a plan of five bay nave with a north-west tower, north and south aisles with clerestory, north and south transepts and a lower two bay chancel.

The exterior adopts a freely interpreted 13th century style. The north-west tower is of four stages with lancet windows to the lower stages and a saddleback roof. This merges into an octagonal bell stage with arched openings with colonnettes and wooden louvres, surmounted by a shingled spire. A lower octagonal vice stair is positioned at the north-eastern corner. The west door is arched with paired colonnettes, drip-moulding and a trefoil-headed entrance, with an elaborate plank door and hinges. The tall west window of the nave has four lights with Geometrical tracery and is flanked by buttresses.

The aisles feature paired trefoil-headed windows with drip-moulding to the clerestory and three-light trefoil headed windows with sexfoil above under drip-moulding with ballflower corbels. The north transept has a circular window above a lower gable with a roundel carved with the Lamb of God over an arched entrance with engaged colonnettes with drip-moulding ending in ballflower corbels. The plank door is similar to the west door, and there are corner stepped buttresses. The south transept is plainer, with paired two-light trefoil windows with sexfoil light above. The chancel east window is a large Geometrical window with sexfoil over cinquefoils above trefoil-headed lights. Attached to the east of the north transept is a flat-roofed 20th century stone addition.

The interior of the nave has a roof of ten bays of arch braces, with alternate trusses supported on stone corbels and two tiers of purlins. The arcade of five bays has pointed arches with drip-mould, supported on alternating circular and clustered columns. The aisle roofs are sloping with through purlins. A large pointed arched chancel arch spans the interior. The chancel roof has four bays of arch braces supported on elaborate floral corbels preserving the original decorative scheme, with trusses painted red and blue against a firmament of gold stars set against a blue sky. The two bay south chancel arcade has deeply moulded arches and a central pier with a large square abacus supported by four marble shafts, each with a scrolled capital, opening into the organ chamber. A double sedilia occupies the south wall of the chancel and a stoup is set into the north wall.

The principal fixtures include a small bowl-shaped marble font on marble colonnettes with a wooden font cover in the form of a steeple. An octagonal stone pulpit has marble shafts at the angles on marble colonnettes, with a relief figure on one side and panels with stem and leaf designs to the others. A fine wooden chancel screen of 1911 with delicate open tracery was brought in by Charles Barker King. This consists of a wide cusped archway within a gable frame with a rood rising from the apex, a stone base with circular panel patterns and iron gates. The chancel and sanctuary have patterned tiled floors and elaborate wrought iron sanctuary railings. A painted stone reredos brought in by Barker King in 1911 depicts Christ in Majesty flanked by saints. Prescription tablets are set into the north and south walls of the chancel.

Wooden pews and choir stalls are present, some with fleur-de-lys patterns to the bench ends. Stained glass of circa 1862 by Clayton and Bell includes the east window with scenes related to the Apostles Creed and side windows to the aisles, while the west window dates to circa 1900.

Monuments comprise a wooden wall panel commemorating men of the parish killed in the First World War and one to the South Wight Boy Scouts who perished in the Second World War, a number of brass wall tablets and a memorial tablet to the benefactors of the church. The vestry has a moulded stone cornice, a stone fireplace with pilasters and built-in cupboard, while the choir vestry has built-in cupboards.

Charles Edward Giles was predominantly a church architect. The tower of Holy Trinity Church has similarities with his All Saints, Kingweston, Somerset, of 1852-5.