Church Of The Holy Trinity

Church of the Holy Trinity

An Anglican parish church of the latter half of the 15th century, completed in 1493. The building is constructed in local lias stone, finely cut and squared, with Ham stone dressings. The roofs are of stone slate between stepped coped gables with finials over the chancel and north porch; elsewhere the roofs are covered in sheet lead behind parapets.

The church comprises six units arranged as follows: a three-bay chancel; a four-bay nave with north and south aisles, each aisle terminating in a single-bay chapel at its east end; north and south porches; and a west tower.

The chancel is detailed with a plinth, string and eaves courses, corner gargoyles, and angled corner and bay buttresses. The east window is a five-light mullioned and transomed composition set within a hollow pointed arched recess. Smaller three-light windows, two on each side to north and south, accompany a moulded pointed arched doorway to the middle bay on the south side.

The north aisle has a plinth to the chapel only, a battlemented parapet with string course and gargoyles. The east chapel window comprises three lights, mullioned and transomed. The north chapel and the first bay of the aisle contain tall four-light windows; the remaining bays have three-light windows, all matching and set in hollow pointed arched recesses. There is no west window. The south aisle follows a similar pattern but features an octagonal stair turret positioned between the chapel and aisle.

Both porches are simple in design with angled corner buttresses and moulded pointed arched doorways. The south porch is now blocked, bearing a small statue recess and cross above the former opening. The north porch has a 20th-century roof, a statue niche (possibly 19th-century) in the east wall, and a matching inner doorway retaining what appears to be the original door and ironwork, including a sanctuary ring.

The nave clerestory is lit by four-centre arched windows and displays battlemented parapets; a curious stone head protrudes through the parapet on the north side.

The west tower rises in four stages. Each stage is defined by moulded plinth bands and string courses with gargoyles at the top, and is crowned with a battlemented parapet. The tower is flanked by offset double corner buttresses that transition to single angled buttresses in the top stage, these latter finished with gabletted crocketted finials. An octagonal full-height stair turret occupies the south-east corner. The west doorway features a moulded pointed arch beneath a square label with square stops and foliated spandrels, flanked by two small statue niches and a stoup to the north. Above the doorway rises a five-light window with two traceried transomes, again flanked by two slim statue niches. In the first stage on the north side are two niches with canopies; the south side is plain. The second stage is unadorned except for a clock face on the west side. The third stage carries two-light 15th-century windows flanked by canopied niches on all but the south side, which has a single niche. The top stage may be of later date and features one open and two blind windows to three faces, with diagonal pilasters between. The open windows have stone pierced baffles; one on the west side is dated 1622. A single open window appears on the south side.

Internally, the chancel is finished with a ceiled wagon-roof displaying moulded ribs and plaster panels with bosses. A three-seat sedilia with four-centre arched heads to recesses and a 15th-century piscina occupy the chancel; the remaining work is of 19th-century date. The chancel arch is spanned by a fine 15th-century wood screen, coloured on its west face and continuing across the side chapels.

The nave is roofed with a 15th-century tie beam roof, its east bay being coloured, and contains 15th-century arcades. A fine coloured timber pulpit, dated to 1455–58 and featuring 20th-century wood figures in the statue niches, includes a fly approach stair.

The space beneath the tower is spanned by a lierne vault and contains a 15th-century octagonal font with quatrefoil panels and panelled coving to a slim base, accompanied by a 17th-century font cover. In the north aisle, near the chapel entrance, stands a small stoup; the chapel itself holds a 17th-century altar table and some medieval floor tiles. The south aisle contains a banded chest dated 1653, and the south chapel houses the organ.

Memorials include a tablet to Elizabeth Banbury, who died in 1716, displaying Corinthian columns and entablature with side and bottom swags. A number of 16th and 17th-century Keinton stone slabs are set into the floor.