Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity

A church of considerable architectural and historical importance occupying a prominent position on the High Street in Guildford. The building comprises the Weston Chapel to the south west, dating from around 1540, with the remainder rebuilt between 1749 and 1763 by James Horne of London in the Palladian style. Subsequent alterations include nave fenestration changes by Henry Woodyer in 1869, the addition of an apsidal east end and transepts by Sir Arthur W. Blomfield in 1888, and a vestry built in 1913.

The Weston Chapel features flint and freestone chequerwork. The remainder of the church is constructed of red and brown brick with gauged brick and stone dressings, with slate roofs throughout. The building plan comprises a nave with apsidal chancel, two transepts, a vestry to the south east, and a prominent tower at the west end.

The three-stage tower displays stone-coped battlements and carries a large wrought-iron scrolled and gilded finial. Each stage has small block-rusticated angle quoins, with a stone modillioned cornice across the upper stage and Portland stone plat bands over the central and lower stages. Rainwater heads on the lower stage are dated 1764. The upper stage contains one louvred round-headed two-light opening on each face under gauged brick heads with stone sills. A single leaded round-headed window appears on the west face at middle stage, with a lunette window below in the lowest stage. The clock face set within the tower contains the motto of the Onslow family: "Make haste slowly". The broken pediment at the west end is divided by the tower. Round-arched windows flank the tower on the first floor, with brick pedimented doorcases in lugged moulded surrounds to north and south below. Keyed roundel windows sit above the former. Double doors to the centre of the west front are contained within a pedimented keystoned and lugged surround, approached by a flight of three steps.

On the south side, the Weston Chapel contains two bays with diagonal offset buttresses alternating with two large diamond-pane three-light windows in hollow chamfered surrounds. The centre lights feature ogee-head tracery with hood moulds above. A stone cornice runs across, and four round-arched windows punctuate the south side of the nave with gauged brick heads. The pedimented south transept carries a stone stack on its apex and a keyed stone-dressed roundel in the tympanum. A Venetian window in a stone-dressed surround features Doric-column mullions, hexagonal glazing, and a scrolled keystone to the arched centre light. The apsidal east end displays blind round-arched arcading with moulded brick caps to the piers and stone sills below. The foundation stone of the apse was laid by Edward Harold, Bishop of Winchester.

The north side, facing High Street, features six round-headed windows on a stone string course to the nave. The rightmost window is smaller and sits above a Portland stone pedimented door surround with block rustication and double panelled doors. The transept to the east is of similar design to the south transept but projects less boldly.

Interior

An octagonal entrance hall beneath the tower contains round-headed niches set on canted angles, with larger niches on the principal axial walls. An octagonal panel decorates the ceiling centre. The main body of the church was substantially altered in 1869, when north and south galleries were removed. A west gallery survives, supported on fluted Doric columns placed on tall panelled pedestals. The gallery has a panelled front and three doors to the rear behind box pews, with the centre door set within a pedimented surround. Dado panelling extends across the north and south nave walls. Deep plasterwork ceiling work above features an elongated central octagonal panel separated from side panels by guilloche-decorated ribs. A modillioned eaves cornice runs around the walls.

A triple arched opening spans the east end of the nave, with early 20th-century wrought-iron screens across the openings. Those in the flanking arches rest on marble riser plinths. Venetian-window pattern screen walls of stone in the Corinthian order flank the chancel to north and south, providing access to chancel chapels. A panelled ceiling decorated with roundels covers the chancel, with a painted and mosaic half-dome depicting an enthroned Madonna and Saints set above the apse.

Fittings

The pulpit dates to around 1770 but follows the style of Wren. It comprises an octagonal panelled form on an octagonal stem with a domed sounding board above supported on fluted Ionic columns.

The font stands in an octagonal baptistry with panelled ceiling located in the south west corner adjacent to the tower. It displays rich Baroque styling, with a red marble bowl on a central stem decorated with cherubs' heads and acanthus leaves, and a domed cover featuring composite columns above.

Monuments and Memorials

The North Chancel Chapel (Queens Chapel) contains memorials to the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, including a marble and gilt First World War memorial. A Second World War memorial occupies the north wall of the nave, executed in mahogany with a central shell niche flanked by four panels on either side, all beneath a Corinthian pediment.

Within the octagonal entrance hall on the north side stands a tomb to Sir Robert Parkhurst, Lord Mayor of London (died 1637), and his wife and daughter-in-law. It features a stiff reclining figure against a black marble background, with marble columns supporting a Doric entablature above, a strapwork panel to the rear, and a round crest overhead. On the south wall of the entrance hall is a tomb to Lady Weston (afterwards Lady Anne Knyvett). The female figure rests on a box tomb of Elizabethan origin, possibly from another monument, with pilaster piers below featuring vivid deep-carved roundels containing skulls behind grids.

The south nave wall carries a memorial to James Smith (died 1710/1) in marble, featuring a draped obelisk beneath a nautilus shell finial and a draped cartouche. A memorial to Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons, also occupies the south nave wall, executed in white marble and grey stone slate with a semi-recumbent effigy in noble Roman dress.

The south chancel chapel contains the most important monument in the church: a memorial to George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of Abbot's Hospital in Guildford. Abbot died in 1633 and the monument was erected in 1640. It was designed by Gerard Christmas and carved by his sons Matthew and John. The monument is T-shaped in plan, with the long arm formed by a six-column canopy above the recumbent effigy of the Archbishop, and the short arm against the east wall containing niches and crowned with allegorical figures. Polychrome marble black columns rest on pedestals composed of books with skulls in relief against the base below Abbot's head. An elaborate strapwork and scrolled pediment canopy incorporates figures representing immortality, humility, and the virtues. This complex allegorical tomb symbolises learning as the foundation of temporal greatness and spiritual salvation.

The church is partly modelled upon Horne's now demolished Church of St. Catherine Coleman in Fenchurch Street, London, and forms an important landmark in Guildford's street scene, being known locally as "the Upper Church".