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 ...

church in

Swyre Swyre () is a small village and civil parish in southwest Dorset, England, situated in a valley beside Chesil Beach southeast of Bridport. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 102. The village church is dedicated to the Holy Trini ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The oldest part of the church has been dated to the early 15th century, with a partial rebuild and additions later made in the 19th century. The church 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 ...

History

A church serving Swyre is known to have existed since the 13th century, with the earliest record of a rector there dating to 1297. The oldest parts of the existing church date to c. 1400, which includes 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 ...

arch and west tower. The clergyman and county historian John Hutchins was rector at Swyre from 1729 to 1733, and he had the chancel repaired at his own expense during that time. In 1843–44, the rebuilding of 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 ...

was carried out at the sole expense of the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

and the chancel at the cost of the rector, Rev. John Wickens. The church reopened on 25 August 1844. A

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 organ chamber was added to the church in 1885 at the sole expense of the rector, Rev. Orlando Spencer Smith.

Architecture

Holy Trinity is built of local stone, with slate-covered roofs. It is made up of a nave, chancel, north porch, west tower and vestry/organ chamber. In the north wall of the nave is a reset doorway which partially dates to the late 14th century. The tower has a plain parapet and contains two bells believed to be of 15th century origin. Internal features include the Royal Arms of Charles II above the chancel arch. The arch is flanked by two painted panels of late 18th century origin which list the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

. On the north wall of the nave is a brass memorial, with shield-of-arms, to John Russell and his wife Elizabeth (Frocksmer), dated 1505, and another to James Russell and his wife Alys (Wise), dated 1509. The west wall has an undated memorial to George Gollope and seven of his children, two sons-in-law and a grandchild, spanning from 1745 to 1787. On the north wall of the chancel is a monument erected to James Napier and family by Sir Robert Napier, dated 1692. The octagonal font is of 15th century date. The church's organ was installed in 1890. It was built by Alfred Kirkland of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and restored in 1976 by George Osmond & Co of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

References

{{reflist Churches in Dorset Church of England church buildings in Dorset Grade I listed churches in Dorset