Holy Trinity Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Sarn, Powys Sarn is a small village in Powys, Wales. The village lies on the A489 road east of Newtown. There is a bus service through the village, with buses to Newtown, Churchstoke and Montgomery. Less than a mile to the west is the smaller settlement ...

, Wales. It was constructed in 1860 and is one of a small number of churches in Wales that voted in 1915 to remain with the Church of England rather than join the

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishop ...

Foundation

In 1860, owing to the distance between local parish churches and the parishioners in Sarn, a petition was made to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, the

Supreme Governor of the Church of England The supreme governor of the Church of England is the titular head of the Church of England, a position which is vested in the British monarch. Queen and Church > Queen and Church of England">The Monarchy Today > Queen and State > Queen and Chur ...

, with the signatures of both the Bishop of St Davids and the

Bishop of St Asaph The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph. The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is loca ...

to amalgamate the surrounding churches in the area into a consolidated chapelry. The petition also mentioned the Holy Trinity area, which only had a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

called Chapel of Llanfihangel in

Kerry, Powys Kerry ( cy, Ceri) is a village and geographically large community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. The village lies on the A489 road southeast of Newtown and possesses two pubs — the Herbert Arms and the Kerry Lamb — a village hall, a bowl ...

to serve Anglicans at the time, though there had been a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

church in the village since 1826. The Queen made an Order-in-Council for Holy Trinity Church to be constructed as a parish church to serve the people of Sarn and created the parish of Holy Trinity, Sarn to be under the control of the Diocese of St Davids. The church was built later that year with the church being attached to the existing chapel.

Interior

The interior of the church contains a font from the 13th century that came from the original Chapel of Llanfihangel. The stained-glass windows feature images of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

blessing the children and of the

ascension of Jesus The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to the N ...

. The church also has portrayals of

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

and Saint Michael in its other stained glass windows. The organ was installed in 1931 and was initially hand-pumped but later was adapted to be powered by electricity.

Referendum

In 1914, the

Welsh Church Act 1914 The Welsh Church Act 1914 is an Act of Parliament under which the Church of England was separated and disestablished in Wales and Monmouthshire, leading to the creation of the Church in Wales. The Act had long been demanded by the Nonconformist ...

was passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

to disestablish the

from the Church of England. During the period while the enactment was delayed by the Suspensory Act 1914, nineteen parishes (including Sarn) were balloted by the Commissioners for Church Temporalities in Wales (commonly called the Welsh Church Commissioners) to ask whether they wanted to remain part of the Church of England or join the Church in Wales. This was because their parish boundaries crossed the border between England and Wales. Holy Trinity Church's parishioners voted 595–289 to remain part of the Church of England despite the church being located within Wales. As a result of the referendum, Holy Trinity Church left the Diocese of St Davids as that became part of the Church in Wales. Instead it was transferred to the Church of England's Diocese of Hereford.

References

{{reflist, 30em Church of England church buildings in Wales 1860 establishments in Wales 19th-century Church of England church buildings Churches completed in 1860 Diocese of Hereford