Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity, Eastbourne

Built originally in 1837–38 as a chapel of ease to St Mary's, the Church of Holy Trinity was designed by the distinguished architect Decimus Burton in a lancet Gothic style. It became an independent parish church in 1847. The building stands as a palimpsest of Victorian and Edwardian expansion, reflecting Eastbourne's rapid growth as a seaside resort following the arrival of the railway in 1849.

Burton's original design consisted of a wide unaisled nave, a shallow chancel, two small flanking chapels, and a west tower. Little of this building survives as originally built. North and south aisles were added in 1854–55 by Benjamin Ferrey, a prominent Gothic Revival architect. The chancel was enlarged in 1861, and a vestry was added in 1884. The most substantial transformation came in 1909–10, when the entire church was greatly enlarged and rebuilt to designs by A.R.G. Fenning at a cost of £7,700. This scheme extended the nave westward by two bays, widened the north aisle by eight feet, provided new windows to both aisles, added a west narthex and new porch, and relocated Burton's original west tower. The tower was rebuilt in replica at the end of the north aisle when the nave extension displaced it, a choice that demonstrates the local regard for Burton's work. A church hall was added in 1927 but is no longer used as such.

The building is constructed of flint with stone dressings, save for the tower which is built of coursed pebbles, with slate roofs throughout. The exterior presents a harmonious unity despite its piecemeal construction. The east end displays three gables corresponding to the chancel and flanking chapels, each pierced by a large window in the mid-13th-century style with foiled circles in the tracery and hood moulds decorated with heads. The east bay of the nave features a gabled transeptal porch with a late 13th-century style window, the projecting porch linked to the main structure by flying buttresses. The early 20th-century aisle windows are in a late 14th-century style, of two lights alternating foiled circles and foiled mouchettes in the heads. The west tower, a replica of Burton's 1837–38 original, differs distinctly from the rest of the church in both materials and detailing. It is of four stages with a north door and paired lancets in the upper stage, an embattled parapet topped with tall Early Gothic-style pinnacles. A long lean-to narthex is attached to the west end of the church. On the south side, a gabled vestry set back from the east end and linked to the former church hall has two dormer windows.

The interior is notable for its sophisticated spatial arrangement. The north and south aisles of 1854–55 feature alternating round and octagonal piers with moulded capitals executed in a late 13th-century style. The nave clerestory contains quatrefoils in depressed-headed rere-arches. The 1850s nave roof displays tie beams and queen post trusses with tracery infill in the spandrels. The 1909–10 north aisle roof also employs queen posts, while the 1850s south aisle roof is lean-to, reflecting the narrower width of that aisle. A triple arch spans the east end of the nave, an arrangement that echoes Burton's original chancel arch flanked by arches into the small side chapels. Further arches connect the aisles to the chancel chapels, which contain two-bay arcades to the chancel itself. The chancel arches and arcades are rendered in a mid-13th-century style with foliage capitals, while those from the aisles feature dying mouldings.

The church contains significant 19th-century fixtures and fittings. The pulpit dates to 1872 and features naturalistic foliage and trefoil arches; it was remodelled in 1884 with a shafted marble stem. The font, of 1884, comprises a polygonal bowl on marble shafts in the Gothic Revival style. The church retains original 19th-century nave benches and choir stalls of the 1890s with open fronts and shouldered ends. Behind the altar stands 19th-century timber panelling with trefoiled arches and a brattished cornice, and the reredos features a similar brattished cornice together with quatrefoils bearing monograms. The south-east chapel is enclosed by delicate metal screens. Some late 19th and early 20th-century stained glass is present. Monuments include wall tablets and 19th-century brass plaques.