Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity

This is a parish church located on the north side of Hydes Lane in Cold Ashton. The tower dates from the 14th century, whilst the remainder of the church was rebuilt between 1508 and 1540 by the Rector, Thomas Key. The building was restored in 1894 by Augustus Frere.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, south porch, south aisle, chancel and north vestry. The tower is constructed in coursed freestone and is of Early English style, whilst the rest of the building is late Perpendicular and built in rubble with stone dressings and ashlar parapets, with the porch partly rendered.

The two-stage tower features a west window at the first stage of two lights with ogee heads, chamfered mullion and surround, and leaded lights in the upper part. The second stage has a lancet and a two-light window with round heads, all with Cotswold stone bell louvres and chamfered surrounds. The north elevation displays a similar lancet at the second stage, whilst the south elevation has a larger two-light window at the second stage. A stair turret with two lancets and a pyramidal cap is positioned at the south-east corner, with a single light to the east at the second stage. The tower has a plinth, diagonal weathered buttresses, weathered strings, and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles.

The three-bay nave features on its north elevation one three-light window to the west with ogee heads to the lights and chamfered tracery with leaded lights. This window has a four-centred arched head with moulded hood mould, and stops decorated with the rebus of Thomas Key. Beneath this is a blocked ogee-headed chamfered door. The clerestorey contains similar two-light windows in each bay with ogee heads and a circle in the spandrel, though without the rebus on the stops. A projecting stair turret for the pulpit and rood stair, with a weathered pyramidal cap, is situated on the north side. The nave has a plinth, weathered buttresses, moulded string and cornice, and an embattled parapet with four pinnacles rising through the merlons. The clerestorey is visible above the south aisle, displaying windows of the same style (restored).

The porch and aisle form a single block. The porch has a double door with a depressed four-centred arched head in three moulded and chamfered orders, a hollow moulded hood mould, and stops decorated with the rebus of Thomas Key. The three-bay aisle has three south windows and one to the east, matching those on the north nave (restored). It features a plinth, weathered diagonal buttresses, a moulded cornice, an embattled parapet and pinnacles as on the nave, and a pitched roof at the east end with a parapet at an angle.

The chancel has a south window matching those on the aisle, a narrow door with a chamfered ogee head, and a similar four-light east window. A two-light window to the north has depressed four-centred arched heads, moulded surrounds, incised spandrels and splayed chamfered reveals. The exterior displays a weathered external ashlar stack, plinth, weathered diagonal buttresses, a moulded cornice, and a shallow gable at the east end. It has an embattled parapet and pinnacles, with a central ogee-shaped merlon bearing a decorative finial. The vestry, in the same style, has a two-light east window matching those on the clerestorey, a moulded cornice, an embattled parapet and pinnacle.

Internally, the porch has an early 18th-century door with strap hinges, a four-centred arched head, a hollow-chamfered surround decorated with the rebus of Thomas Key and foliage in the spandrels, a moulded stone architrave, stone benches and a shallow pitched roof with ridge and side purlins.

The tower arch is a steep pointed arch of two continuous chamfers with a deep splayed reveal to the west window. All other windows have shallow splayed reveals. The south door has a basket-arched reveal.

The nave contains a Perpendicular stone pulpit to the north with a crocketed and vaulted pinnacled canopy. A depressed four-centred arched door leads to a stair to the pulpit and a newel stair to the rood loft, with a similar door remaining at the upper level. The two-bay south arcade comprises one octagonal column and two engaged columns with moulded capitals serving as imposts for four-centred arches of three moulded orders.

The nave roof has five bays with cambered tie-beams and common rafters. The aisle roof spans five bays with a heavy cambered beam and three rows of purlins. Between the chancel arch and the south wall of the chancel is a heavy chamfered beam with step and run-out stops.

The high chancel arch has a squint on the south side to the former chantry chapel. The south door has an ogee head and deep reveal, whilst the north door to the vestry has a four-centred arched head and moulded surround. The chancel roof spans three bays with a very shallow pitch, featuring a ridge purlin, principal and common rafters, all chamfered.

The fittings include a 19th-century Perpendicular oak pulpit with carved wooden pews and lecterns in the chancel. There is carved reredos panelling to each side of the altar and similar dado panelling at the east end of the aisle. A font, dating to the early 16th century, features an octagonal bowl enriched with quatrefoils in circles and three or four-leaf flower centres, with a plain octagonal pillar. Royal arms of George I are displayed on the west wall of the nave.

A monument in the chancel bears a brass inscription to Thomas Key, 1540. Monuments in the nave include a Baroque tablet with swags, putti and a shield to Evan Jones, 1738; a marble tablet to Elizabeth Whittington, 1816, by T. King of Bath; a marble tablet to Elizabeth Kater, 1835, by R. Waller of Bristol; a marble tablet to George Whittington, 1841, by Reeves of Bath; a stone tablet with an egg and dart surround to Philip James, 1739, and other family members; and an oval stone tablet surmounted by a lion's head with an illegible inscription. A marble monument with reeded pilasters in the aisle commemorates John Gunning, 1798, by W. Lancashire of Bath.

External monuments include a stone tablet on the east wall of the aisle to Jeremiah Caswell, 1788, and other family members, and an unidentified 18th-century stone tablet with a pediment on the east wall of the chancel.

Fragments of early 16th-century glass remain in the tracery of the east window of the aisle, two of which feature Thomas Key's rebus.