Church Of The Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

Parish church, built in the 15th and early 16th centuries with chancel rebuilt and new vestry added in 1863. The building is constructed throughout from coursed blocks of granite ashlar, with early details in granite and Beerstone ashlar, later 19th-century details in Bathstone, and a slate roof.

The plan consists of a 15th-century nave with a lower chancel rebuilt in the 19th century, flanked by north and south aisles neither of full length. The north aisle is earlier, possibly early 15th century, while the south aisle dates from the late 15th or early 16th century and is accompanied by a contemporary two-storey south porch. A 15th-century west tower stands at the entrance, with a 19th-century vestry inserted in the angle between the north aisle and chancel.

The exterior features a tall west tower of three stages with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. An internal stair turret sits in the south-west corner. The belfry windows are twin lancets, while the west side displays a two-centred arch doorway with double-chamfered surround and, directly above, a three-light window with granite Y-tracery, surmounted by a 19th-century painted clockface.

The south aisle and porch have set-back buttresses and continuous embattled parapet. The porch, positioned left of centre, interrupts the five-bay front. Its four windows are all three lights with Perpendicular granite tracery and plain hoodmoulds. The porch features a projecting stair turret and a round-headed outer arch with moulded surround containing 19th-century doors, above which are twin round-headed lancets with sunk spandrels. The 19th-century chancel is Gothic in style, including a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery in the east end. The north aisle retains original gable coping and set-back buttresses, with a five-window front of three-light windows featuring Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds with carved head label stops.

Interior

The porch has a flagged floor and benches on each side, with a round-headed south door containing double-chamfered surround and 19th-century door.

The nave retains a restored but essentially original open barrel-vaulted roof with massive secondary strengthening crossbeams below. The north aisle has a ceiled wagon roof with moulded ribs and purlins, good carved oak bosses, and wallplate enriched with four-leaf decoration. The south aisle is similar but not identical and is now open. The chancel has a 19th-century version, open with crossbraces. A tall, plain tower arch springs from imposts. The moulded granite ashlar chancel arch is probably 19th century. Each side of the nave features granite five-bay arcades with moulded piers and plain capitals; those to the south aisle are Pevsner's Type A, while those to the north aisle are Pevsner's Type B. A tiny round-headed doorway in the south aisle gives access to the porch stair, and the north side of the vestry has a 15th-century two-centred arch. A monument in the south aisle appears to block a granite segmental-headed arch from a former rood stair turret. Walls are plastered, and the flagged floor incorporates a high proportion of granite graveslabs dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, the earliest bearing inscribed crosses and the finest examples in the north aisle.

Chancel furniture and fittings are all 19th century. The sanctuary is lined with small field panelling and a linenfold panelled reredos. The altar is fronted with carved angels flanking the Agnus Dei, accompanied by a 17th-style oak altar rail. The furnishings include Gothic-style stalls, a 16th-style octagonal drum pulpit dated 1939, a brass eagle lectern dated 1895, a Gothic-style oak prayer desk dated 1954, and Gothic-style oak benches dated 1931, with some 19th-century pine box pews in the aisles and rear of the nave. One preserved 15th-century oak bench end is carved with blind tracery. A Norman-style Beerstone font, built in 1893, is a copy of the battered original now in the tower. A timber Gothic tower screen serves as a First World War memorial. A 17th-century clock movement is located to the rear of the nave.

Painted arms of Elizabeth I appear over the south door. A 19th-century painted benefaction board at the rear of the south aisle records a gift from 1541. The north aisle contains a pair of 19th-century painted boards recording the Ten Commandments and another painted board recording the Ringers Articles. A Beerstone plaque with moulded frame records the 1705 benefaction of Thomas Hall.

The oldest memorial, at the west end of the south aisle, dates from 1701 but the name is illegible. The remaining memorials are 19th century, with the finest commemorating William Pensford (died 1807) and his wife Mary (died 1782). Some 19th-century stained glass is present.

This attractive Perpendicular Dartmoor parish church dominates the village and is visible for miles around.