Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Church built 1882-88 by architect Henry Edward Coe and Stephen Robinson, with a vestry added in 1894, a church hall of 1970, and other later alterations.

The building serves the Gratwicke Estate area of Worthing, developed from the 1860s. It cost £6,000, funded by the Bishop of Chichester, the Incorporated Church Building Society, and public subscriptions. The church was consecrated in July 1883, though the tower was not completed until 1888 due to shortage of funds. The builder was P Peters of Horsham, with Sydney RJ Smith ARIBA as superintendent of works. The vestry was added in 1894 as a memorial to the first vicar, Revd Joseph Lancaster, who died in a typhoid epidemic in Worthing in 1893.

The church is built of red brick in English bond with stone dressings and a tiled roof, designed in the Early English style. The plan comprises an aisled nave, chancel, north transept with porch, north-western porch, an octagonal vestry to the north-east, and a large tower with spire at the west end of the north aisle.

The exterior is characterised by lancet windows with stone sills and moulded brick hoods, mostly containing clear glass leaded lights, though some have coloured glass. The nave has buttresses marking the bays, aisle windows, and a clerestory. The west end window is a five-light lancet. The rectangular chancel has a three-light lancet in its end gable. The octagonal vestry has three lancet windows on each of its outward-facing sides, beneath a polygonal tiled roof terminating in a finial. The square tower has three stages: a single lancet at the base; a pair of lancets with a clock above; and bell louvres. Four round spirelets with stone pinnacles stand at its corners, with a large eight-sided spire rising above. A further spirelet with stone pinnacle rises from the north transept.

The interior retains much original fabric, though a suspended ceiling inserted in the 1970s has compromised the sense of space in the nave. The roof survives above this ceiling. Painted lettering on the chancel arch reads 'Thy Faith hath made Thee whole - go in Peace' and was recorded as intact in 1970. The stone nave arcade columns have clustered shafts with carved capitals, supporting pointed brick arches. Interior walls are exposed brick. The nave floor is quarry tiled in red and black, except where bench pews rest on a timber platform. The chancel is richly decorated with encaustic tiles, with marble steps up to the altar.

The reredos dates to 1887 and was given by the first vicar and his wife in memory of their parents. It was made by Thomas Afleck of Lancaster, sculptor and mason, to designs by Mr Payley of the same town. The reredos is a splendid panel of pink Buxton marble (alabaster) with five pointed arched bays marked by paired ebony marble columns, with crepuscular sprockets and finials. Each aedicule contains gilt lettering spelling out the Decalogue, and the central panel displays a banner reading 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' in characterful Victorian script.

The pulpit is a fine feature dating to the mid-17th century, with egg-and-dart carving and strapwork, brought from the former parish of Broughwater. The stone font is Victorian and not in its original location. An organ of 1884 by Foster and Andrews of Hull, a brass eagle lectern of 1886, and the majority of original pews survive, including the choir stalls in the chancel. A foyer at the west end was created by a glass and timber screen inserted in 1979, made with wood from pews removed from this area. The foyer contains a First World War memorial and three brass alms boxes.

Stained glass windows range in date from 1891 to 1924, mostly given in memory of congregation members. One window depicts the Good Shepherd in the style of Edward Burne-Jones but is undated; the others are more conventional. The east end window was installed in 1890, as were five small lancets at the west end. The main five-light west window dates to 1969 by WJ Threasher.

In the 1970s, a glazed screen was inserted at the west end of the nave to create a foyer and a hall was added to the south, to designs by WJ Threasher of Southwick. This 1970s hall is linked to the building's south side and is not of special interest.

Henry Edward Coe was a pupil in the office of George Gilbert Scott at the same time as George Edmund Street, before establishing practice in London with Edward Climenson Goodwin. Together they designed the Birmingham Blind Institute (1849, now demolished) and Holy Trinity Bracknell (1851, unlisted) and Christchurch, Redcar (1854, Grade II). In 1856, in partnership with Henry Hollingsworth Hofland, Coe's entry won a competition for the Foreign and India Office building in Whitehall. The commission went to Scott, however, who had been placed third and was requested by Prime Minister Lord Palmerston to abandon his Gothic-style design in favour of the Italianate—an episode well-known for epitomising the 'battle of the styles' in Victorian architecture. Coe also designed the Dundee Infirmary in Scotland. His other listed buildings include a country house, now Whitlinham Hospital, South Norfolk (1865, Grade II), and various houses on The Avenue in Bedford Park, West London (circa 1877, all Grade II). He is buried in Highgate Cemetery, North London.