Holy Trinity Church is an active Anglican church in

Acaster Malbis Acaster Malbis () is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York, England. It is located on the River Ouse, almost south of York. Nearby are the villages of Copmanthorpe to the north-west, Bishopthorpe 2 miles to ...

, a village in the

City of York The City of York is a unitary authority area with city status in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. The district's main settlement is York, and it extends to the surrounding area including the town of Haxby and the villages of E ...

, in England. It is a

grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. A church has existed on this site since at least the 12th century. It was rebuilt in limestone in about 1320, by the Fairfax family. It has a cruciform plan, with a south porch, with a pointed arch. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is of three bays, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

of two, and each

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

a single bay. The windows to the north and south have three lights, with a larger, five-light window at the west end, and a seven-light window at the east end. They are deeply set in arched reveals. Each light has an

ogee arch An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...

, design which

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

describes as initially appearing to be a later alteration, but actually contemporary with the original construction of the church. Above the windows in the west and south

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

s are

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

windows, a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four rin ...

in the north transept, and a sexfoil in the east gable. The east window has stained glass of 1320, which Pevsner describes as "very fine", and some more in the south transept window. Inside, there is a mediaeval font, sections of a mediaeval wall painting on the north wall, and a

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

with ogee arches. There is also a fourteenth-century effigy of a knight, who is thought to be John Malbys. The wooden pulpit is 17th-century, described by Pevsner as "exceptionally elaborate". In 1886, the church was restored by

C. Hodgson Fowler Charles Hodgson Fowler (2 March 1840 – 14 December 1910) was a prolific English ecclesiology, ecclesiastical architect who specialised in building and, especially, Victorian restoration, restoring churches. Life He was born in Nottinghamshir ...

, and he added a wooden bell tower and spire. In 1967, it was grade I listed. A new stained glass window was added in 2019, to a design by Janet Parkin, featuring woodland creatures.

References

{{Churches in York