Church Of Holy Trinity

Church of Holy Trinity

This parish church stands on the north side of West Down churchpool. The building is of cruciform plan and dates largely from the 13th century, with a 13th-century nave and south transept, a 14th-century north transept, and a chancel entirely rebuilt in 1675. The west tower was completely rebuilt in 1712. The church was restored in 1874 by William White.

The exterior is constructed of rubble with larger roughly dressed stonework to the tower. The roofs are slate with crested ridge tiles and coped gable ends. The tower rises in three stages with setback buttresses and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. The belfry openings are pointed arches with two trefoil-headed lights on each side. The west window comprises two trefoil-headed lights above a pointed arch doorway with double roll-moulded surround and a 19th-century door. There is a single light window in the second stage. A plaque on the south side records that "The Tower was taken down to foundations in 1711 and rebuilt 1712."

The south side of the nave has a three-light window and 13th-century two-light lancets with hoodmould. A 19th-century pointed arch leads to the south porch doorway with corbels to the inner arch, which has a 19th-century roof. Above the porch is a two-light window with hoodmould. The 13th-century plain chamfered pointed arched inner doorway has a 19th-century plank door. On the north side of the nave are two square-headed windows, each with two trefoil-headed lights and hoodmould flanking a buttress. A blocked 13th-century pointed arched north doorway lies to the left.

The south transept has three stepped lancets on the south side, a hollow-moulded pointed arched doorway to the west side, a single lancet to the east side, and a tiny lancet in the squint across the angle of transept and chancel. The chancel windows comprise a two-light window to the left with hoodmould and a round-arched single-light window to the right, flanking a blocked pointed arched doorway with a plaque above recording that the chancel was "Rebuilded in 1675." The chancel east window has three lights. The vestry has a single trefoil-headed light to its east wall and two trefoil-headed lights on the north side.

The north transept has an early 14th-century three-light window with ogee reticulation and pointed hoodmould with label stops on its north wall. The east side has a two trefoil-headed light window with hoodmould.

The interior features a plain unmoulded round arched tower arch. The south transept has an unmoulded pointed arch, while the north transept has a double-hollow chamfered arch. The chancel arch is pointed with engaged colonnettes with lipped capitals and a corbelled hoodmould to each face.

The nave has a 19th-century roof with intermediate arch-braced trusses with carved bosses halfway up the arches. The north transept has an unusual open wagon-roof of trefoil section with moulded central rib. The south transept has an arch-braced 19th-century roof. The chancel roof has three trusses similar to those in the north transept but also includes purlins, ashlar pieces and corbelled out wall-posts with moulded pointed arches to the south transeptal squint.

A semi-elliptical moulded arched recess in the north wall of the north transept features ball flower ornamentation in the moulding with label stops. This contains a wooden effigy of Sir John Stowford in an attitude of prayer, dressed in the robes of a Sergeant at Law.

The chancel contains a cinquefoil cusped piscina. A carved 19th-century wooden reredos displays painted commandment boards. The nave furnishings include a 19th-century Romanesque font with a square bowl on a squat round stem and an octagonal base. A weathered stone crest stands on the west wall of the south transept. A wall monument to the Isaac family on the north wall of the nave dates to the 17th century and was restored in 1881 with original painted decoration. It features a broken-scrolled pediment with two frontal demi-figures holding hands in a double-arched recess.