Holy Trinity Church is an

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

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before bei ...

, West Midlands, England, and in the Diocese of Birmingham. The building is

Grade II listed 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, H ...

. The church dates originally from 1837, and was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1889.

History and description

Before Holy Trinity Church was built, there was a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

, consecrated in 1732, in the parish of

St Peter's Church, Harborne Saint Peter's is the ancient parish church of Harborne, Birmingham, England. Background There has been a church on the site since Saxon times and St Chad is even thought to have preached there. The base of an early preaching cross was found in ...

. It was afterwards known as the Old Chapel, or Smethwick Old Church. It is the oldest surviving building in Smethwick. The population of north Smethwick was growing in the early 19th century, and the opening of the New Main Line of the Birmingham Canal in the late 1820s was a factor in the creation of new factories and housing. Holy Trinity Church, planned in 1835, was built in 1837, and consecrated in 1838. It was designed by Thomas Johnson of Lichfield in Early English style; it was built of

Tixall Tixall is a small village and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the English county of Staffordshire lying on the western side of the Trent valley between Rugeley and Stone, Staffordshire and roughly 4 miles east of Stafford. The populati ...

stone, had a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

plan, and on the west an

embattled A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

tower and spire. In 1842 the parish of North Harborne was created for the church, from part of the Harborne parish."Smethwick Holy Trinity"

GENUKI GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

. Retrieved 31 May 2023. The church was mostly rebuilt in 1887 to 1889, on a larger scale, to the designs of Francis Bacon of Newbury. The tower and spire remained from the original building. It is built of sandstone ashlar with limestone dressings. The

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 ...

and

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 ...

are under a continuous roof. There are north and south aisles under separate roofs; they have five bays, and paired

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. In the churchyard is an outdoor pulpit erected in 1913. J. H. Newsham, vicar of Holy Trinity from 1912 to 1914, preached here to a men's organisation which he founded, "The Brotherhood". In 1975, new facilities were created including a foyer, kitchen and toilet facilities, and there was a reduction in seating. The pews were later replaced by new seating."Our History"
Holy Trinity Church, Smethwick. Retrieved 31 May 2023.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smethwick, Holy Trinity Church Grade II listed churches in the West Midlands (county) Church of England church buildings in the West Midlands (county) Buildings and structures in Sandwell

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 ...