Holy Trinity Church, Hastings facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Holy Trinity Church |
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The church from the southeast
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| 50°51′18″N 0°34′36″E / 50.8551°N 0.5767°E | |
| Location | Robertson Street/Trinity Street, Hastings, East Sussex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Founded | 1851 |
| Founder(s) | Countess Waldegrave |
| Dedication | Holy Trinity |
| Consecrated | 1858 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 14 September 1976 |
| Architect(s) | Samuel Sanders Teulon |
| Style | Decorated/Early English Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1856 |
| Completed | 1859 |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Hastings Holy Trinity |
| Deanery | Rural Deanery of Hastings |
| Archdeaconry | Hastings |
| Diocese | Chichester |
| Province | Province of Canterbury |
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church located in the heart of Hastings, a town in East Sussex, England. It was built in the 1850s when Hastings was quickly becoming a popular seaside town. The church was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, a well-known and unique architect of the Victorian era.
This church stands out because of its richly decorated inside and its clever design on a tricky plot of land in the town centre. It took eight years to build, and a planned tall tower was never added. The building is considered very important for its architecture and history, so it has a special heritage status called Grade II*.
Contents
History of Holy Trinity Church
Hastings is a very old town, first mentioned in writing before the year 928. However, it grew a lot in the 1800s, becoming mostly a Victorian town. Better ways to travel, like trains, made it easy for people from London to visit. This made Hastings a very popular seaside resort and a successful, confident town. For some time in the 1800s, it was one of Britain's most fashionable holiday spots.
The town's growth meant more churches were needed, especially by the Church of England. In the 1200s, the Old Town area had seven churches. But over time, due to decline and the sea, only two were left by the early 1800s: All Saints Church and St Clement's Church.
As Hastings grew, it spread west beyond the small valley where the Old Town was. The population jumped from about 3,000 in 1801 to over 6,000 by 1821. Soon after, a new, fancy town called St Leonards-on-Sea was built even further west. This attracted even more people. The space between Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea quickly filled up. The town's main area moved away from the Old Town, so new churches were planned for the newer parts of Hastings.
Choosing a Site for the New Church
In 1851, the Hastings railway station was built. Land nearby was developed into new streets like Cambridge Road, Robertson Street, and Trinity Street. This area used to be an empty space with some small shacks, known as the America Ground. This became the chosen spot for the second Anglican church in "new" Hastings.
A kind person named Sarah Waldegrave, Countess Waldegrave, who supported churches, gave £1,000 to help start the project. This amount would be worth about £130,000 today. Samuel Sanders Teulon was hired to design the building. He had already designed churches in nearby Rye Harbour and Icklesham.
At first, a piece of land on Cambridge Road was given for the church. But soon after building work started, a landslip (when a mass of earth moves down a slope) showed the site was unsafe. About £500 (worth about £65,000 today) had already been spent. The church leaders chose another site nearby. However, they had to pay £2,500 (worth about £325,000 today) to The Crown (the government) for it. This new site was very tricky because the streets, Robertson and Trinity, met at a very sharp angle.
Building the Church
Work on the new site began in 1857. Countess Waldegrave laid the foundation stone on July 22 of that year. The main part of the church, called the nave, was finished first and opened for worship in 1858. The chancel (the area around the altar) was completed the next year, but it wasn't officially opened until 1862.
Another local resident, Lady St John, also donated £200 (worth about £26,000 today) to the church fund. She was worried about the poor people who had been forced to move from the old wasteland area. So, she paid for a new church to be built in St Leonards-on-Sea, where many of them had moved. This church, Christ Church, opened in 1860.
A big change happened in 1892 when a new, many-sided room called a vestry was added behind the chancel. Next to it, above the porch, there was space for a tower and spire. But because the church was so expensive to build, these were never added.
Between 1889 and 1890, the arch leading to the chancel was beautifully carved by sculptor Thomas Earp. A craftsman from Ghent (a city in Belgium) made a fancy screen called a rood screen. Around the same time, W. H. Romaine-Walker designed a special pulpit (where sermons are given) made of alabaster and marble with two staircases. He also worked on the vestry and other updates in the church.
Later, in the early 1900s, a London architect named Henry Ward designed a small Lady chapel (a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary). This chapel was cleverly made from the space under the organ. He also worked on some doors and windows. Later in the century, a master calligrapher named Edward Johnston created a high-quality, beautifully decorated prayer book called a missal.
Architecture of Holy Trinity Church
The architect, Samuel Sanders Teulon, had to design Holy Trinity Church on a very difficult and small plot of land in the town centre. Because of this, the church's layout is quite unusual.
The main part of the church, the nave, has six sections. It has a side aisle on the south, a chancel with a rounded end called an apse, a vestry with a cone-shaped roof, and a porch that was meant to be the base of a tower.
The west end of the church, which faces Claremont, has two pointed roof sections called gables. It also has a large, tall window with six sections, decorative stone patterns called tracery, and stone frames. The north side, facing Trinity Street, is divided into six sections, each with a pointed roof and a window with three sections and similar tracery. There are similar windows in the apse, and a more detailed one on the north side of the chancel.
The porch is set at an angle facing Robertson Street and leads into the south aisle. This tall entrance features a large carving of the Trinity (God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in the space above the doorway, called the tympanum. A flat, sloped roof sits where the tall tower was planned to be.
The church combines two styles of Gothic Revival architecture: the Decorated and Early English Gothic styles. It is built entirely of stone, mostly rough stones laid in rows. Teulon's usual style was strong and unique Gothic, showing his special skill in this architectural movement.
Inside, the chancel roof has very detailed carvings, especially on its support brackets called corbels. Similar carvings were added above the organ area and the chancel arch during the late 1800s updates. All these carvings were done by Thomas Earp. The small Lady chapel, tucked away under the organ, is a unique feature. The font (where baptisms take place) is from when the church first opened. However, the detailed leaf carvings on its base were added in 1903.
Organ
The church originally had a small organ. In 1896, a larger organ with three keyboards, made by Norman Beard, was installed in the chancel. In 1908, part of this organ was moved to its current spot, with only the choir organ remaining in the chancel.
Holy Trinity Church Today
Holy Trinity Church was given a special heritage status, listed at Grade C by English Heritage on September 14, 1976. This status was later upgraded to Grade II*. A Grade II* listed building is considered "particularly important" and "of more than special interest." In February 2001, it was one of 13 Grade II* listed buildings in Hastings.
The church's local area, or parish, covers the centre of Hastings. Its boundaries include Falaise Road, Linton Road, Amherst Road, Lower Park Road, Mann Street, South Terrace, Queens Road, Harold Place, and the seafront.
Experts in the 1900s generally praised the church. The Victoria County History of Sussex, written in 1937, described its style as "rather florid," meaning very decorative. Robert Elleray, a historian of Sussex churches, called it "among the finest Victorian churches in Sussex." He also said its interior was one of the best in any church in the county. People have often called it "the Cathedral of Hastings."
In November 2014, a team from St Peter's Church, Brighton started a new chapter for Holy Trinity. The church became part of the HTB network of churches and is now often called HTH.
See also
In Spanish: Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad (Hastings) para niños
