Church of the Holy Trinity

The Church of the Holy Trinity is a church constructed between 1820 and 1832, designed by E.W. Garbett. John Buckler completed the detached south-east tower, and John Oldrid Scott added the five-sided polygonal apse in 1892. The church is built of Bath stone ashlar with slate roofs, incorporating elements of Pennant sandstone. It is designed in the lancet style and comprises a nave, apse, tower, west porch, and north vestry.

The nave features a moulded plinth and string course, arcaded corbelling to an arcaded parapet, and parapeted gable ends with flanking pinnacles to the east. It has six bays with paired lancet windows, separated by tall chamfered buttresses with gable caps. The west front is distinguished by flanking square turrets with a trefoiled diamond band, an arcaded top stage to the parapet, and a short spire. A wheel window is set into the gable end, with triple shafted lancets below, flanked by two buttresses and two lower shafted lancets, and an arched doorway to the right. A moulded and shafted west doorway has two doors with arched panelling. The west porch has angle buttresses and a trefoil in its parapeted gable end, flanked by pinnacles, with six steps and a wrought iron balustrade leading to a moulded and shafted archway. Inside the porch is a two-bay quadripartite vault with wall shafts.

The apse has a lower slate roof with a finial and a shafted lancet on each face. The vestry, originally a baptistery, is of octagonal plan with a pyramidal slate roof and lancets on alternate faces. A short linking block connects it to the nave.

The tower has four stages of differing heights, with angle buttresses, an arcaded band above the second stage, and an arcaded parapet with corner pinnacles; the north-east pinnacle is larger. It has triple shafted louvred lancets in each face of the bell stage and a clock to the west. Narrow lancets are present in each face of the third stage, and a lancet to the south, east, and west of the second stage. A passageway is situated beneath the tower, with moulded and shafted arches to the east and west. Inside the tower is a quadripartite vault with corner shafts and seats against the walls. A former library links to the nave to the north, featuring two bays with lancets. Cast iron downpipes and pinnacled rainwater heads bear the initials “SS”.

The interior features a six-bay plaster nave vault with wall shafts and shafted windows. A west gallery and arcade, five bays wide and two bays deep, includes moulded arches and vaulting, a parapet with a coat of arms, and an organ. A shafted arch leads to the apse, with shafted lancets and a three-bay sedilia. A vestry door, originating from Magdalen College Oxford, is located to the north. The north chantry chapel, dedicated to William Waynflete (1395-1486), also came from Magdalen College in 1830 and consists of three bays with straight-sided arches, trefoils in the spandrels, and shafts with foliated capitals. Wall and vault paintings are present in the nave and chancel. Apse decoration by G.F. Bodley in 1892 remains, consisting of only two angels. Fittings include choir stalls, pews, a lectern, a font, and Minton tiles, with glass by Kempe dating from 1892. The church is notable for its early attempt at correct Gothic detailing.