Church Of The Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

This is an Anglican parish church built in 1591 for Sir Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, on the site of a medieval parish church. The building was lengthened to the west by one bay in 1852–3 by T.H. Wyatt for the Marquis of Ailesbury, with a south vestry and tower added at the same time.

The church is constructed of banded limestone rubble and flint, with a tiled roof featuring crested ridges. The plan comprises a nave with a north porch and a south vestry tower. Windows are of two and three lights with four-centred heads, undecorated, set within square chamfered openings. Angle buttresses stand at the corners. The west door, also with a four-centred arch, displays waisted shields in blind spandrels, a label mould, and a three-light window above, likely dating from 1591 and reset within the extended bay. The east window is 19th century, in Perpendicular style. The north porch is gabled with a door similar to the west door. Seventeenth-century graffiti appears on the porch jambs, and the inner door has a four-centred arch.

The interior shows no differentiation between nave and chancel. The roof comprises six bays with tie-beam trusses incorporating king posts and arch-braced collars. Short end struts support inserted quatrefoiled timber panels. Two tiers of purlins run throughout, with windbraces present in bay 3. The walls are plastered and the floor aisles are flagged. The sanctuary is raised 3 steps and tiled.

The font dates from 1591 and is a small limestone bowl on a stem. The pulpit, sanctuary rails, and pews are 19th-century oak. The east window glass is by Lavers and Barraud, dated 1864.

The church contains numerous monuments. The Seymour monuments were removed to Great Bedwyn church. On the north wall are three monuments: a wall tablet of 1820 in white and grey marble by Blore of Piccadilly, commemorating William Butcher (died 1818), his wife, and her brother; a white marble tablet on black by Hale of Baker Street to Reverend David Llewellyn (died 1868) and wife; and a slate memorial with gilded lettering to Mary Cooper (died 1973). The south side displays three further monuments: white marble on black by Hale, featuring a raised chest with anchor, cross and chain, to David Llewellyn, surgeon to the Confederate war steamer Alabama (died at sea 1864); a white marble tablet with grey fluted pilasters and pediment to Reverend James Lawes (died 1828) and wife; and a memorial slab erected in 1950 in polished limestone and slate, commemorating eminent parish figures including Sir Geoffrey Esturmey (died 1245) and Sir John Seymour (died 1465). The church also contains three Powell brasses of the 19th century and one Great War brass.

Two donation boards are displayed at the rear: an 18th-century board recording William Francis's investment of £500 for the poor, and a board recording Reverend Lawes's investment of £100 for the same purpose. A cast iron plate records £20 paid for repewing the church, with seats reserved for the poor.

Historically, a Trinitarian friary founded by Stephen, archdeacon of Wiltshire, in 1245, was probably sited a short distance east of the medieval parish church. The present building represents an interesting example of the simple form taken by the Elizabethan Protestant parish church.