Holy Trinity Church, Coverham facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Holy Trinity Church, Coverham
Holy Trinity Church, Coverham, from the south
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OS grid reference	SE 103 863
Location	Coverham, North Yorkshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Churches Conservation Trust
Architecture
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	13 February 1967
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic
Groundbreaking	13th century
Specifications
Materials	Stone, stone slate roofs

Holy Trinity Church is an old church that used to be a regular church but isn't anymore. It's part of the Anglican Christian group. You can find it in the small village of Coverham, in North Yorkshire, England.

It's a very special building, listed as Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. This means it's an important historical place. The Churches Conservation Trust now looks after it. The church stands close to the old ruins of Coverham Abbey and the River Cover.

Church History

This church is very old! It was first built way back in the 1200s (the 13th century). The main part of the church, called the nave, and the south wall of the chancel (the area around the altar) were likely built then.

Later, in the 1300s, a south aisle (a side part of the church) was probably added. The tall tower at the west end of the church was built in the 1400s. The church was repaired and updated in 1854 and again in 1878. These updates are often called "Victorian restorations."

On September 1, 1985, Holy Trinity Church was declared "redundant." This means it was no longer needed for regular church services. On June 10, 1987, it was officially given to the Churches Conservation Trust. This trust helps to protect and care for important old churches.

Church Architecture

Outside the Church

Holy Trinity Church is built from stone rubble (rough, broken stones). Its roofs are made of stone slates. The church has a main nave with a south aisle and a south porch (a covered entrance). It also has a chancel with a small room called a vestry on its north side. There is a tall tower at the west end.

The tower has three levels and strong diagonal buttresses (supports) on its corners. The bottom level has a large window with three sections. The middle level has a small opening for air on the south side. The top level has two-section openings for the bells on each side. At the very top of the tower is an embattled parapet. This means it has a wall with gaps, like the top of a castle. There are also fancy stone decorations called crocketted finials on the corners.

The east window in the chancel has three sections and is in a style called Perpendicular Gothic. On the south wall of the chancel, you can see a square-shaped window with two sections and two narrow, tall windows called lancet windows. The north wall of the chancel has the vestry and a pointed window with two sections. The north wall of the nave has four pointed windows, each with two sections.

The south wall of the aisle has three pointed windows, each with two sections, and the porch. The east window in the aisle is round at the top and has three sections. On the peaks of the roofs (called gables) of the nave, chancel, and porch, there are stone crosses. Above the south doorway, there's a stone beam called a lintel. This lintel is actually an old stone cross shaft from the Anglo-Saxon time, which was reused!

Inside the Church

Inside, the church has a row of four arches that separate the nave from the aisle. These arches are pointed at the top and are held up by eight-sided columns. These columns don't have bases (bottom parts) or capitals (top parts).

In the south wall of the chancel, there's a special basin called an ogee-headed piscina. This was used for washing sacred vessels. There's also a simpler piscina in the wall of the south aisle. The floor of the church is covered with colorful encaustic tiles from the Victorian era.

Some windows in the south aisle have small shields made of painted glass. These might be from the medieval period (the Middle Ages). The church has a set of three bells. The oldest bell was made in 1632. The other two were made in 1770 by Pack and Chapman at the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The church's parish registers, which record births, marriages, and deaths, start from the year 1707.

See also

• List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in Northern England