Holy Trinity Church in
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
, Merseyside, England, is an
Anglican parish church in the
diocese of Liverpool
The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey, part of West Lancashire, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester, Widnes and part of Warrington and in Cheshire (it was origi ...
and a Grade II*
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 ...
. It was built in the early 20th century, and designed by Huon Matear in free
Decorated style. It is constructed mainly in red brick, and has a tower, the upper parts of which are in elaborately decorated stone. Many of the internal furnishings are by the
Bromsgrove Guild
The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898–1966) was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert. The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and ...
.
History
Southport did not develop as a town until the later part of the 18th century, before which the area contained only scattered dwellings and small settlements, the main one of which was
Churchtown. The area containing the present Holy Trinity Church was in the parish of
St Cuthbert, Churchtown, until 1821 when Christ Church was built. At this time the local congregation met in a simple thatched building known as Halls Chapel. As the population in the area grew it became evident that a more substantial building was needed, and the first Holy Trinity Church was built in 1836. This was consecrated on 1 November 1837 by the Rt Rev
John Sumner,
bishop of Chester
The Bishop of Chester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chester in the Province of York.
The diocese extends across most of the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, including the Wirral Peninsula and has its see in the ...
. The church was a small structure with a tower, measuring by . In 1840 an organ and gallery were installed in it, the church was extended to the east by and a clock was added to the tower in 1847. There were further extensions in 1860–62.
Later in the century this church was becoming too small for the size of the congregation, and in 1893 a meeting was held to consider plans for a new church on the same site.
[ The ]Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
architect Huon Matear was appointed to design it. On 1 November 1903 a contract was signed with Woods of Bolton to build 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 ...
, and the foundation stone was laid on 12 January 1904 by Mrs Elder, a member of the family running the Elder shipping company. The completed nave was dedicated on 15 December 1904 by the Rt Rev Francis Chavasse
Francis James Chavasse (27 September 1846 – 11 March 1928) was an Anglican priest and bishop and father of Captain Noel Chavasse. After serving in parishes in Preston, London, and Oxford, for eleven years from 1889 he was principal of the evang ...
, bishop of Liverpool
The Bishop of Liverpool is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool in the Province of York.''Crockford's Clerical Directory'', 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. .
The diocese stretches from Southport in the n ...
. Work on the rest of the church continued, the 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 wi ...
and two porches being dedicated on 28 January 1911, and when the body of the church was completed it was consecrated on 12 March 1912. At his time the tower was not finished; this was completed by 15 February 1913.[ The cost of building the church was met by donations from local people in what the authors of the '']Buildings of England
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...
'' series call an "amazing ''tour-de-force'' of Edwardian patronage". The Elder family paid for the nave, the tower and the west front, Joseph Mullineaux Dewhurst, a cotton manufacturer, paid for 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.
Ov ...
, and the cost of the Lady chapel
A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as ...
was met by W. B. Taylor and J. A. Grundy.
Architecture
Exterior
Holy Trinity is faced with red Withnell bricks, it has dressings in Bath stone, while the parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...
s, the 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, and the top of the tower are in Portland stone, and the roof is in Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
green slate. The corner pinnacles have been replaced in fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
. The architectural style of the church was described by the architect as being "a free treatment of the late Decorated Period
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...
".[ It consists of a nave, north and south ]aisles
Aisles is a six-piece progressive rock band originally from Santiago, Chile. The group was formed in 2001 by brothers Germán (guitar) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), and childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar). Later on, it expanded to incl ...
, a north transept, a chancel with a north chapel and a south vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
, and a northwest tower.[ The overall length of church is , its width is , and the tower is high.][ The tower has four stages, the lower two stages are in brick with stone bands, and the upper stages are in stone. It has angle ]buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es that rise to become pinnacles. In the bottom stage is a crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier.
Description
...
ed north doorway under a carved gable, and a west doorway with a gable decorated with wheat ears. The upper two stages are ornately decorated. Each side is arched and contains a louvred three-light bell opening incorporating a clock face. At the bottom of the stage is an openwork balcony, and at the top is a crocketed 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 ...
t. The top stage is octagonal and contains blind tracery
Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...
, a stepped parapet, and short flying buttress
The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...
es linking to the pinnacles. The west front is flanked by octagonal turrets joined by an arch, below which are two two-light windows and a balustraded balcony. On the south side of the church is a porch. The aisle extends for four bays, each of which contains a four-light window with Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...
tracery. On the north side are two similar bays, and a transept with two gables, each containing a three-light window. The chancel has three bays, with flying buttresses over the chapel.[
]
Interior
Internally the columns and the chancel are in Runcorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...
stone, and the roof is in pitch pine.[ The walls are in exposed brick. The aisle arcades are tall and carried on octagonal columns. The north transept is in two bays, with a round column.][ Most of the furnishings are by the ]Bromsgrove Guild
The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898–1966) was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert. The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and ...
, and some were designed by Matear. The reredos of 1921 has an elaborately carved frame and contains paintings by Sidney Meteyard with Walter Gilbert
Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate.
Education and early life
Walter Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932, the son of Emma (Cohen), a c ...
. The rood screen incorporates the pulpit and a tester, and is carved with a vine frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
, birds and snails. The furnishings in the choir are also carved and include dragons, ravens, and trumpeting angels. The font is in white marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
on a black marble base, and carries the emblems of the Four Evangelists. In the two-bay north arcade is a traceried wooden and glazed screen.[ In some of the windows in the south aisle is stained glass from the older church. Also in the south aisle is a First World War memorial window by Barrowclough and Sanders, and a window of 1898 by ]Percy Bacon Brothers
Percy Bacon Brothers was a firm which produced stained glass in London from about 1880 until the late 1930s. The firm was established by the painter and sculptor, Percy Charles Bacon (1860–1935). In about 1892 he was then joined in the busines ...
. The north aisle has a window of 1929 by H. G. Hiller depicting the Adoration of the Magi
The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...
. In the transept is a window by the Powells Powells or Powell's may refer to:
Places
* Powell Islands (Powells), Raa Atoll, Maldives
Cities, towns, communities
* Powells Corners, Ontario, Canada
United States
* Powells Crossroads, Tennessee
* Powells Point, North Carolina
* Powellton, ...
of Christ in Glory. The chapel contains a scheme of windows by A. J. Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild including a Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...
. In the chancel is another Christ in Glory, this one by Shrigley and Hunt
Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles.
History
The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire.
In 1868, control of Shrigley' ...
, and an Annunciation of 1914 by Wilhelmina Geddes
Wilhelmina Geddes ''HRUA'' (25 May 1887 – 10 August 1955) was an Irish stained glass artist who was an important figure within the Irish Arts and Crafts movement and also the twentieth century British stained glass revival. Notable works includ ...
.
Organ and choir
The previous church has a four- manual pipe organ of 1840 by Samuel Renn
Samuel Renn (10 June 1786 – 11 January 1845) was an English organ builder who ran a business in Stockport, and later he traded in Manchester.
The surviving instruments are mainly in churches, although a house organ is also known.
Renn was bo ...
. In the present church there was also a four-manual organ, this was by Willis, and was followed in 1923 with an organ by Willis and Lewis, again with four manuals. Due to the poor condition of the Willis Pipe Organ, the console was refitted in 1982 by Makin and speakers installed in the organ loft, much of the original Willis pipework was moved to make way for the speakers. There is also a smaller two-manual Makin organ in the church. A new Makin Westmorland Custom 4–74 organ was installed in October 2010. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Warrington Rt. Rev. Richard Blackburn on Sunday 7 November. The main choir consists of boys and men, and there is also a chapel choir of women who sometimes join with the male choir. The choir sings at Sunday services, and also at a choral evensong
Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which beca ...
on Wednesdays. Apart from the two cathedrals, it is the only choir in the diocese to regularly sing a full midweek choral evensong.[ In addition to its liturgical duties, the choir also performs in concerts, including in the Trinity Arts Festival. From 2008 to 2017, the director of music was Ian Wells, the former assistant organist at ]Liverpool Cathedral
Liverpool Cathedral is the Cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool, and the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. It may be referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in th ...
.
Present day
Holy Trinity is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of North Meols, the archdeaconry
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of mo ...
of Warrington, and the diocese of Liverpool
The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey, part of West Lancashire, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester, Widnes and part of Warrington and in Cheshire (it was origi ...
. The church holds services on Sundays and during the week, including a choral evensong on Wednesdays. It has a Sunday club for children, and runs groups for Sea Scouts and Guides.
Appraisal
On 15 November 1972 the church was designated as a Grade II* listed building.[ Grade II* is the middle of the three grades of listing recognised by ]English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
and is applied to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". Only 5.5% of the listed buildings are included in this grade.
See also
*
* Listed buildings in Southport
References
Citations
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southport, Holy Trinity Church
20th-century Church of England church buildings
Anglican Diocese of Liverpool
Church of England church buildings in Merseyside
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Merseyside
Grade II* listed churches in Merseyside
Churches completed in 1912
1912 establishments in England