Church of Holy Trinity, Guildford, Surrey

Description

SU 9949NE and SU 9949SE
5/105 and 8/105

GUILDFORD,
HIGH STREET (South Side),
Church of Holy Trinity

1/5/53

Church. Weston Chapel to south west circa 1540, remainder of old church rebuilt in
1749-1763 by James Horne of London in Palladian style; nave fenestration altered by
Henry Woodyer in 1869, apsidal east end and transepts added by Sir A. W. Blomfield
in 1888 and vestry built in 1913. Flint and freestone chequerwork on Weston
Chapel, red/brown brick with gauged brick and stone dressings and slate roofs on
remainder. Nave with apsidal chancel and two transepts, vestry to south east and
tower to west end. Three stage tower with stone-coped battlements and large
wrought-iron scrolled and gilded finial on top. Small block-rusticated angle
quoins to each stage with stone modillioned cornice across upper stage and Portland
stone plat bands over central and lower stages. Rainwater heads on lower dated
1764. One louvred round-headed, two-light opening on each face of upper stage under
gauged brick head and with stone sills. One leaded round-headed window to west
face,middle stage,with lunette window below in lowest stage. Clock face on tower
contains motto of the Onslow family "Make haste slowly". West end pediment broken
by tower. One round-arched window on first floor to either side of tower with
brick pedimented doorcase in lugged moulded surround below to north and south,
keyed roundel window over the former. Double doors to centre of west front in
pedimented keystoned and lugged surround approached up a flight of 3 steps.
South side: Weston Chapel to south west of two bays with diagonal offset buttresses
alternating with two large diamond-pane,3-light windows in hollow chamfered surrounds
and with ogee-head tracery to centre light and hood mould over. Stone cornice and
4 round-arched windows on south side of nave with gauged brick heads. Pedimented
south transept with stone stack on apex and keyed stone-dressed roundel in
tympanum. Venetian window in stone-dressed surround with Doric-column mullions,
hexagonal-glazing and scrolled keystone to arched centre light. Apsidal east end
with blind round-arched arcading,with moulded brick caps to the piers,and stone
sills below. Foundation stone of apse laid by Edward Harold, Bishop of Winchester.
North side facing High Street:- Six round-headed windows on stone string course to
nave, that to right smaller and over Portland stone pedimented door surround with
block rustication and double panelled doors. Transept to east of similar design
to south transept but projecting less boldly.
INTERIOR: Octagonal entrance hall under tower with round-headed niches on canted
angles; larger niches on principal axial walls. Central octagonal panel to
ceiling. Main body of church gutted in 1869 when galleries to north and south
were removed. West gallery survives on fluted Doric columns placed on tall
panelled pedestals. Panelled front and three doors to rear of gallery behind
the box pews; that to centre in pedimented surround. Dado panelling on north
and south nave walls, deep plasterwork ceiling above with elongated central
octagonal panel separated from side panels by guilloche decorated ribs. Modillioned
eaves cornice to walls. Triple arched opening across east end of nave with early
C20 wrought iron screens across, those in flanking arches with marble riser plinths.
Venetian-window pattern screen walls to north and south of chancel, stone,and in the
Corinthian order, giving access to chancel chapels. Panelled ceiling over the
chancel decorated with roundels, painted and mosaic half-dome over the apse
depicting an enthroned Madonna and Saints.
Fittings:- Pulpit. Circa 1770 but in style of Wren. Panelled octagonal pulpit
on octagonal stem and with domed sounding board above on fluted Ionic columns.
Font in octagonal baptistry with panelled ceiling to south west corner, adjacent
to the tower. Rich Baroque style with red marble bowl on centre stem decorated
with cherubs heads and acanthus leafs; domed and composite-columned font cover
above.
Monuments:- North Chancel Chapel (Queens Chapel) contains memorials to the Queen's
Royal West Surrey Regiment including marble and gilt first world war memorial.
Second World War memorial on north wall of nave - Mahogany with central shell niche
flanked by four panels either side and under Corinthian pediment. Octagonal
entrance hall North Side:- Tomb to Sir Robert Parkhurst, Lord Mayor of London,
d,1637, and his wife and daughter-in-law. Stiff Reclining figure with black marble
background and marble columns supporting Doric entablature above, strapwork panel
to rear and round crest over. Tomb on south wall to Lady Weston (afterwards
Lady Anne Knyvett). Female figure on box tomb of Elizabethan origin and possibly
from another monument. Pilaster piers on box tomb below with vivid, deep-carved
roundels containing skulls behind grids. South Nave Wall:- Memorial to James Smith.
Died 1710/1. Marble. Draped obelisk under nautilus shell finial and draperied
cartouche. South Nave Wall - Memorial to Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of
commons. White marble and grey stone slate with semi-recumbant effigy in noble
Roman dress. South Chancel Chapel:- Memorial to George Abbot, Archbishop of
Canterbury and founder of Abbot's Hospital, Guildford (qv). Died 1633, erected 1640.
Designed by Gerard Christmas and carved by his sons Matthew and John; the most
important memorial in the Church. T-shaped plan, the long arm being a six-column
canopy above the recumbant effigy of the Archbishop, the short arm against the east
wall and containing niches and crowned with allegorical figures. Polychrome marble
black columns resting on pedestals composed of books with skulls in relief against
the base below Abbot's head. Elaborate strapwork and scrolled pediment canopy with
figures including immortality, humility and the virtues. A complex allegorical
tomb symbolising learning as the foundation of temporal greatness and spiritual
salvation. The church is partly modelled on Horne's now demolished Church of
St. Catherine Coleman in Fenchurch Street, London; and forms an important landmark
in the street scene of Guildford, being known as "the Upper Church".
Photographs in N.M.R.

PEVSNER: BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND, SURREY (1971) pp.270-272.
M. ALEXANDER: GUILDFORD AS IT WAS (1978)
V.C.H. SURREY (1967 Edn) VOL. III pp.567-9.
J. BURKE: ARCHBISHOP ABBOTS TOMB AT GUILDFORD: A PROBLEM IN EARLY CAROLINE
ICONOGRAPHY.
P.M. JOHNSTON: SCHEWLED ANTIQUITIES OF SURREY (1913).

Listing NGR: SU9988149499

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 16 August 2017.

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Church of Holy Trinity

A Grade I Listed Building in Guildford, Surrey

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