Holy Trinity Church is a
redundant Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the town of
Halstead
Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011[Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...]
, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
as a designated Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
,
and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
The church stands to the north of the junction between Trinity Street (the
A131 road
The A131 road is a road in Essex, England.
Route
It runs from the A12 (Boreham interchange J19) to the A134 road at Sudbury. The A131 runs north from Boreham interchange along Beaulieu Parkway then west along Channels Drive, then north again a ...
) and Chapel Hill.
[
]
History
A chapel, Holy Trinity Chapel, was built on the site in about 1413, but this had disappeared by the 18th century. The present church was built in 1843–44, and most of it was paid for by Mrs Mary Gee of Colne House, Earls Colne
Earls Colne is a village in Essex, England named after the River Colne, Essex, River Colne, on which it stands, and the Earls of Oxford who held the manor of Earls Colne from before 1086 to 1703.
History Manor of Earls Colne
In the time of ...
.George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he ...
. As the building of the spire was nearing completion, it collapsed, fortunately causing only minor injuries to the builders.[ An organ chamber was added in 1876.][ The church was declared redundant in April 1987.][
]
Architecture
Exterior
Holy Trinity is constructed in brick with flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
facing. It has gault
The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in Fo ...
brick and limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
dressings. The roofs are slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
d with tiles on the ridges. Its plan consists of a nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
with a clerestory
A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, a ''clerestory' ...
, north and south aisle
An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
s, a chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
, a northeast vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
, an organ chamber, and a southwest tower with a spire. The tower incorporates a porch. It is a Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
church in 13th-century Early English style. The tower is tall with four stages. On its south side is a doorway. The second and third stages contain single-lancet windows flanked by arcading. In the third stage is a quatrefoil
A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
opening on each side. The bell openings consist of a pair of narrow lancets, with blind arches on each side. On the tower is a broach spire
A broach spire is a type of spire (tall pyramidal structure), which usually sits atop a tower or turret of a church. It starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces.
File:Leicester Cathedral ...
with two tiers of lucarne
In general architecture a lucarne is a dormer window. The term is borrowed from , which refers to a dormer window, usually one set into the middle of a roof although it can also apply to a façade lucarne, where the gable of the lucarne is aligne ...
s. In the gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
at the east end of the church is a wheel window, with spokes radiating from a hub. Below this are three lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...
s of equal height. At all corners of the church are clasping buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es. The sides of the aisles are divided into bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
by buttresses, and each bay contains a lancet window. Along the clerestory is arcading with alternate blind arches and lancet windows. At the west end is a doorway, above which is a triple lancet window, with a single lancet above that.[
]
Interior
The walls are plastered and whitewash
Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...
ed. Between the nave and the aisles on each side is a six-bay arcade supported by alternating circular and octagonal piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
. The seating in the nave and aisles, and probably the font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
, with its square bowl on an octagonal base, date from the time of the building of the church. The lectern
A lectern is a standing reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of ...
dates from 1906, and the choir stalls were added in 1913. The panelling
Panelling (or paneling in the United States) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity ...
in the chancel, and the pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
date from the early 20th century. At the east end of the south aisle is a memorial screen added in 1922. The stained glass in the west window dates from 1851 and is by Clutterbuck, the east window of 1887 is by Burlison and Grylls
Burlison and Grylls is an English company who produced stained glass windows from 1868 onwards.
The company of Burlison and Grylls was founded in 1868 at the instigation of the architects George Frederick Bodley and Thomas Garner. Both John Bur ...
, the east window in the south aisle dated 1922 is by J. C. N. Bewsey, and three windows in the south aisle of 1931–32 are by A. K. Nicholson.[ The three- manual organ was made in 1858. In 1878 E. W. Norman of ]Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
and Diss either rebuilt it or supplied a new organ. This was subsequently restored in 1909 by Binns of Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, again in about 1970 by Cedric Arnold, Williamson & Hyatt of Thaxted
Thaxted is a town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of north-west Essex, England. The town is in the valley of the River Chelmer, not far from its source in the nearby village of Debden, and is 97 metres (318 feet) above sea level (w ...
, and at a later date by Bishop and Son.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halstead, Holy Trinity Church
Grade II* listed churches in Essex
Church of England church buildings in Braintree
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Essex
Churches completed in 1876
19th-century Church of England church buildings
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
George Gilbert Scott buildings
Commissioners' church buildings
Holy Trinity Church
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...