Description

SK 3516
1/111

KILWARDBY STREET (south side)
Church of the Holy Trinity

GV
II
Church, 1838-40 by H I Stevens of Derby, with chancel of 1866 by J P St Aubyn. In the lancet style with galleries.

MATERIALS: Ashlar stone with slate roof.

PLAN: The church is oriented north to south. It has a north (liturgical west) tower, a galleried nave with stair blocks at north west and north east, and a south east vestry.

EXTERIOR: The three-stage north tower has set-back buttresses terminating in gables below the belfry stage, a crenellated parapet above a corbelled band, and octagonal corner pinnacles with spirelet finials. Above the moulded north door is a lancet window with shafts and tall louvered lancet belfry windows. The nave has seven narrow bays with tall lancet windows and interval buttresses, and a parapet above a corbel table. The north end bays have moulded pointed-arched doorways and north lancet windows with shafts. The chancel is narrower and lower than the nave. It has a triple-lancet south (liturgical east) window, parapets above a corbel table and set-back buttresses. There is a small vestry on the chancel's east side.

INTERIOR: The nave roof is a tie beam and queen post roof of 1838, which is plastered in front of the rafters and above the collar. The queen posts have pendants and there are decorative traceried panels between them and the principal rafters. There are three circular ventilator grilles in the nave ceiling. Around three sides of the nave there is a raked gallery on cast iron columns, with decorative cast iron brackets that support shallow king post timber trusses under the gallery floor. The gallery fronts are decorated with modest Gothic panelling. The gallery retains a complete set of original seats. There are three upper doorways onto the north end of the gallery. The chancel has a large moulded arch and a ceiled canted roof divided into panels by ribs. The cast and wrought iron chancel screen of 1891 is by Skidmore. There is a stone reredos with three panels of sculpted relief figures under cinquefoil-headed arches and a stone frame which is gabled in the centre. The window above the reredos (liturgical east) has brightly-coloured stained glass of 1866. The large circular pulpit of c1889 has a cornice with carved leaves, thick marble columns with carved leaf capitals, and a moulded stone base. The stem is concealed under a modern raised floor at the south end of the nave. The octagonal stone font has sunk panels decorated with trefoils on the sides and a moulded octagonal stem and base. The nave benches of 1886 have shouldered ends with chamfered corners and decorative sunken roundels.

HISTORY: Holy Trinity was built as a daughter church to St Helen's in 1838-40, to the designs of Henry Isaac Stevens of Derby. It was granted parish church status in 1860. The chancel extension of 1866 was designed by James Piers St Aubyn; the iron chancel screen by Skidmore dates from 1891. The spire of 1840 was dismantled in 1899. The church underwent internal reordering in the late C20.

SOURCES: Len Dutton, Holy Trinity Church, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, n.d.
Nikolaus Pevsner and Elizabeth Williamson, Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland (1984), 80.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
Holy Trinity Church is listed at grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* It is a complete pre-ecclesiological lancet-style church of 1838-40, by the established architect Henry I Stevens of Derby
* It retains galleries on three sides, with cast iron columns and intact seating
* The chancel of 1866 by J Piers St Aubyn adds to its special interest, illustrating the ecclesiological move from auditory to ritualistic worship in the mid C19.

Listing NGR: SK3549416587

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Holy Trinity Church at Wikipedia
• Holy Trinity Church official website
• Wikidata Q5886340

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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