Diameter: 31.38" Bell 1 of 3
Founded by Thomas Pyke 1776
Dove Bell ID: 50716 Tower ID: 18139 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Barnstaple: Holy Trinity
Diocese of Exeter
Church, 615402
http://www.trinitybarnstaple.org.uk/Overview
Grid reference: SS 562 327
Of the original church of 1843 only the tower remains. The rest of the building consisted of a nave with shallow transepts and rather a short chancel, and vestries, all with details in a Perpendicular style. The tower seems to be based on Somerset examples, but by comparison with most it is too tall for its breadth, giving a rather attenuated appearance.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Wheelchair access ramp and accessible toilets available Visitor toilets, baby changing facilities and parking available
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave of four bays with aisles and clerestory, south-west tower from the previous church; south-west choir vestry next to the tower; chancel with polygonal apse, south chapel and north vestry and organ chamber.
Footprint of Church buildings: 541 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The present church was designed by William White and built in 1868; the tower survives from an earlier church of 1843 designed by G. Abbot of Barnstaple and D. Mackintosh of Exeter.
The story of the building of the church is strange. It was one of two churches built in the town in the middle of the nineteenth century to relieve pressure on the mediaeval parish church of St. Peter. In 1824 a committee was formed to look into the provision of additional church accommodation but nothing was done until in 1844-6 the church of St. Mary Magdalene was erected to designs by Benjamin Ferrey (it was demolished in 1978). The Revd. John James Scott a curate at Pilton had been a prime mover in this scheme and contributed £2,000 towards the cost. But his impatience eventually led him to withdraw his support and he embarked on an independent project. The site was given by Charles Roberts of Ellerslie, Bickington, and the foundation stone was laid on 29 August 1843 by Dr. Philpotts, Bishop of Exeter. The church was designed by G. Abbot and D. Mackintosh and consisted of a cruciform building in the Perpendicular style with aisleless nave, short transepts and chancel and a tall south-west tower and spire. The contractors were Philip Carter (mason) and Richard Gribble (carpenter). The building was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter on 22nd June 1845 and had cost about £6,000, all of which was provided by Mr. Scott in addition to £1,000 endowment. The spire seems never to have been completed.
So hasty had the construction been that the foundations began to give way, and in 1868 the whole building except the tower had to be taken down and rebuilt, to the bitter regret of Mr. Scott who had crippled his financial affairs by paying for its erection. The Revd. C. Haggard, Vicar since 1861, paid half the cost and the rest was raised by subscription. The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Honolulu on 20 October 1868 and the church was rededicatedon 12 January 1870 by Dr. Temple, then Bishop of Exeter. The building occupies the same site, though extending a little further west than its predecessor, and the west window, said to have been based on Merton College Oxford, was retained in the new building. No other feature was (save the tower), although the building materials were re-used. The tower was apparently lowered by eight feet, which may refer to the removal of the base of the intended spire. The choir vestry was built in 1902.
Exterior Description
Of the original church of 1843 only the tower remains. The rest of the building consisted of a nave with shallow transepts and rather a short chancel, and vestries, all with details in a Perpendicular style. The tower seems to be based on Somerset examples, but by comparison with most it is too tall for its breadth, giving a rather attenuated appearance. It is divided into three stages by stringcourses and has set-back angle buttresses at the corners. The foundation stone is at the north-east corner. The lowest stage is windowless and the middle stage has one cinquefoil-headed opening under a label in each face. It is with the belfry stage that the ornamentation becomes more elaborate. First there is a band of quatrefoils. running round the whole tower and the buttresses, and above this are the tall paired bell-openings, each of two slender transomed lights with louvres of stone pierced with quatrefoils. These stand under ogee gablets with crockets and foliate finials, and between the gablets there are pinnacles. At the top of this stage is a parapet, with a band of quatrefoils on each face and then an open arcade with square crocketted pinnacles at the corners and subsidiary pinnacles set diagonally in the middle of each face. The stonework inside suggests that a spire was intended, and it is recorded that the tower was reduced by eight feet in 1869 when the church was rebuilt, so possibly a start had been made on the spire which then had to be abandoned, and finally removed.
The tower is joined to the south-west angle of the later church, with an arch through a buttress giving access to the lowest stage. The west gable of the nave has a large five-light window in the upper part and a doorway in the lower. The flanking walls of the nave have two-light window with Perpendicular tracery in the clerestory and small two-light windows in the aisles, the bays being marked by buttresses. There is a door in the south aisle and the vestry beside it is virtually square with a flat roof within a moulded parapet. The aisles do not reach quite to the west end of the nave, stopping about five feet short of it.
The chancel has five windows in the apse, all with uniform trecery designs of two lights. The north vestry and organ chamber are amalgamated into one rectangular building under two hipped roofs within a moulded parapet and to the west of this there is a strange construction at the end of the aisle which links it to the organ chamber. The vestry has a north doorway giving access to the car park, and a continuation of the line of this wall forms a boundary for a small detached part of the churchyard to the east of the chancel. The chapel on the south side of the chancel stands under a pent roof and is of two bays. There is a waterspout here carved in congruously as an angel with a chalice, while on the nave are angels with musical instruments. The rainwater heads are dated 1843.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1875
The apse windows date from 1875 and depict The Annunciation, The Nativity, Gethsemane, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection, The Ascension, The Presentation of the Keys to St. Peter, The Baptism of Christ and Christ and the Doctors.
Stained Glass
c.1920
South Chapel I : The Presentation in the Temple, c.1920 in traditional style.
Stained Glass
South Chapel II : The Widow's Mite
Stained Glass
Nave south I : St. Philip and St. James the Less; two tiny panels in canopywork brightly coloured in an interesting mediaevalising style.
Stained Glass
c.1920
Nave South II : St. Alphege and St. Margaret
Stained Glass
1875
Nave North I : St. John and St. Matthew
Stained Glass
Nave North II : St. Mark and St. Luke
Stained Glass
c.1920
Nave North III : St. Stephen and St. Alban
Stained Glass
c.1910
West window: five lights showing Christ in Glory surrounded by saints and angels and, in the two outer lights, Moses Receiving the Law, Moses and The Passover, Mary Pondered These Things in her Heart and Christ and the Children.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior of the church, like the exterior, does not readily suggest the name of White except, perhaps, in the construction of the roof which shows that architect's penchant for structural ingenuity. This has broad arch braces to each bay crossed by lesser frames rather like hammerbeams. Intermediate timbers form a simpler pattern above each of the clerestory windows. The arcades have quatrefoil pillars with moulded octagonal capitals and moulded arches of rather loose design. The alleys are paved with stone and there are wooden boards under the pews. The aisles are narrow, simply for access to the pews and the small windows are placed within archos which descend lower than the openings, giving the (erroneous) impression that the lower parts of the windows have been walled up. The walls are plastered and painted and the window reveals have the stonework exposed. An arch at the east end of the south aisle opens into the south chancel chapel which was repaired and refurnished in 1912. It has a blind east wall and two two-light windows in the south wall.
The chancel arch has imposts which are moulded and provided with several attached shafts with foliated capitals, and the arch itself is also much moulded. There is one step at this point and a low stone screen with the Caen stone pulpit on the north which, like the font, was re-used from the earlier church. The chancel is paved with black and white marble squares set diagonally and has two arches on the south communicating with the chapel. On the north two arches are filled with organ pipes, with a doorway leading into the vestry in the lower part of the eastern arch. Further east is a credence shelf of black marble under a trefoil arch with foliate stops. The windows of the apse are set quite high in the wall and have bands of quatrefoils below the sills. The principal feature of the chancel is a reredos in the form of a triptych erected in about 1960. The corbels of the chancel roof are carved as angels with books, those in the nave as angels with shields. In the apse the roof timbers rest on stone shafts with foliate capitals.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
19th Century
The altar is a nineteenth-century oak design with an arcaded front, it has been extended at each end to fit the later reredos.
Reredos
1948
The reredos is a broad triptych in classical style with carved scenes representing The Crucifixion flanked by Christ and Nicodemus and Christ and the Woman of Samaria, scenes which (according to a framed leaflet in the church) were chosen to symbolise the mission of the church in this parish. These are carved in low relief with scrolly canopies and cherub's heads, and a wavy cornice outlining the composition; there are also doors painted with appropriate symbols and the whole piece is polychrome against a stone coloured background. Designed by A.F. Erridge and made by Wippell and Company.
Pulpit
1845
The pulpit is of Caen stone, hexagonal with Perpendicular-style traceried panels; of 1845, from the previous church, by Simon Rowe of Exeter.
Lectern
1899
The lectern is a brass eagle given in 1899.
Font (object)
1845
Of Caen stone and is octagonal in a convincing Perpendicular style with moulded base, panelled stem, fleurons on the underside of the bowl ard quatrefoils in panels round the bowl, those in alternate faces containing fleurons; by Simon Rowe of Exeter. The arms of the Diocese appear on four tiles on the step.
Organ (object)
The organ was originally built by Holdich, but this appears to have been replaced in 1917; the choir organ was added in 1919; it is by Vowles and was "modernised" by the same firm in 1954
Rail
The communion rails are of brass, as are those in the south chapel.
Bells
Diameter: 32.88" Bell 2 of 3
Founded by Bayley & Street 1750
Dove Bell ID: 50717 Tower ID: 18139 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Diameter: 19" Bell 3 of 3
Founded by Unidentified (blank)
Dove Bell ID: 50718 Tower ID: 18139 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SS 562 327
Burial and War Grave Information
The church/building is consecrated.
The churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
The churchyard is closed for burial by order in council.
The date of the burial closure order is 13/10/2010
The churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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