Church Of The Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

Built in 1841, this church sits on Witney Road in Finstock. The interior was improved and beautified in 1876, and a vestry with organ chamber was added in 1905–6, designed by the Reading architects S. Slingsby and Stallwood (dated 1905 on the rainwater-heads).

The exterior is constructed of squared and coursed limestone with additions in dressed limestone and ashlar dressings, finished with stone slate roofs. The church comprises a four-bay nave in lancet style, a two-bay chancel, and a south vestry and organ chamber in Decorated Gothic style.

The nave features parapeted gable ends with chamfered coping and shaped kneelers, crosses at the apex to east and west gable, and a bellcote with chamfered-arched opening and cross. Chamfered lancet windows with chamfered cills and returned hoodmoulds light the nave. The west end contains a chamfered arched window with Y-tracery and returned hood mould, flanked by a pair of chamfered reveals. A louvred chamfered lancet with returned hoodmould sits in the apex of the gable above.

The chancel has a double-chamfered plinth and cill string, gable ends with copings and crosses at their apices. Moulded segmental-arched north windows contain three ogee trefoil-headed lights with cusped reticulated tracery and returned hood moulds, while a moulded cinquefoil-headed lancet to the south-east has a returned hood mould. The east window is moulded and arched, featuring three cinquefoil-headed lights with cusped reticulated tracery and a hood mould with carved stops.

The transept has a chamfered plinth, moulded cill string, and diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets. A parapeted gable with coping, shaped kneelers, and finial crowns the structure. An integral stone stack rises from the north-west buttress, decorated with chamfered offsets and paired octagonal shafts, surmounted by a moulded cap with battlemented top and a trefoil-headed panel to the south. The east window is moulded and arched, with two cinquefoil-headed lights and cusped tracery with returned hoodmould. A hollow-chamfered arched doorway to the west has stops, returned hood mould, and a boarded door with strap hinges. A small square window to the east contains two cinquefoil-headed lights, and a two-light basement window with hollow-chamfered reveals and stone mullion is visible below. Steps descend to a segmental-headed boarded basement door. Windows throughout feature decorative wrought-iron grilles.

The interior contains a ceiled four-bay nave roof with long braces to tie-beams. The chancel arch is continuously moulded (from 1905) with moulded bases and returned hood mould. The four-bay chancel roof displays moulded, carved, and billet-ornamented wooden wall plate and ashlar pieces, moulded arched-braced collar trusses with billet ornament at the top, king struts above with flanking raking struts, and pairs of moulded purlins with moulded wind braces. Moulded rear arches, segmental-arched to the side windows, run along the chancel. A large continuously moulded organ archway opens to the south, and a continuously moulded arched vestry doorway with boarded door is positioned nearby. A returned south window has a moulded seat, and a piscina in the reveal of the south window consists of two moulded arches with pierced cusped ogee traceried heads and moulded base.

The fittings, mainly dating from the late 19th century and circa 1905, include an elaborate carved stone reredos of 3:1:3 bays with carved figures of saints in niches, traceried panels, crocketed arches, and pinnacles. The central arch features one order of shafts, ballflower ornament, and a carved figure of Christ at centre, with carved corbels and a carved frieze with billet ornament. Scrolled bracketed wrought-iron candelabra flank the reredos. Wrought-iron altar rails with wooden rail and wooden choir stalls with blind traceried panels and carved poppyheads are also present. An elaborately carved organ case with blind traceried panels and carved frieze stands nearby. The organ was given in 1910 by the Do Cros family.

A wooden chancel screen of 2:1:2 bays features pierced traceried panels, carved frieze and cresting, and a rood cross. An octagonal stone pulpit consists of a short stem with broaches to an octagonal base, quatrefoil-panelled sides with fleurons, a moulded top, and an angled stone reading desk with carved foliage beneath and fixed brass candlesticks. This pulpit was given in 1866 as a memorial to Frances, late Dowager Lady Churchill. An elaborately carved wooden lectern with pierced traceried panels and pinnacles is displayed, along with an octagonal stone font with step, stem with arched panels, quatrefoil-panelled coving, quatrefoil-panelled bowl with fleurons, and a panelled pyramidal wooden cover. Painted commandment and creed panels decorate the north and south walls at the west end.

Stained glass comprises six windows from 1877. Two windows at the west end commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee of 1887.

The site for the 1841 church was given by Francis Almeric, 1st Baron Churchill. The chancel and transept cost £3,000. Internal and external evidence suggests it was originally intended to rebuild the nave in the same style as the chancel, but this was never carried out.