page_title: Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge
context_page_description: Holy Trinity Church, Trowbridge, is a Grade II* listed 19th-century Church of England church in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England, which had parish church status until 2011. It is commonly known in Trowbridge as ‘The Church on the Roundabout’, as it is encircled by a one-way traffic system.
context_section_description: The Trowbridge manor which included the land on which the church stands was bought in 1807 from the fifth Duke of Rutland, who retained the patronage. It had been noted that the existing parish church could barely hold a twelfth of the 12,000 population, and so plans were set in motion to build a new, larger church. In 1835 fund-raising appeals were begun by Francis Fulford, the then-rector of the parish church of St. James, with estimated construction costs of £4000.
  The total cost of the church was £5,251 (equivalent to £460,000 in 2018), towards which a grant of £1,676 (equivalent to £150,000 in 2018) was provided by the Church Building Commissioners. The building contractors for the church were Charles and Richard Gane.
  A. F. Livesay of Portsmouth was appointed as architect. Other works of his included the recently completed Holy Spirit Church, Newtown, on the Isle of Wight. Livesay's design is in the Early English architectural style, and is based on elements of Salisbury Cathedral, including the vaulting and bosses of the north and south aisles in the Cathedral. The church was built of poor-quality Westwood stone, with the interior having iron and plaster columns (the plaster painted to mimic marble such as the Purbeck marble of Salisbury cathedral's columns), and plaster scribed with false ashlar blocks to mimic high-quality stonework in the vaulting and walls. There were four porches, one of which (the south porch, the main entrance to the church nowadays) is situated under an embattled tower. The windows were originally plain, clear glass.
  Unusually, the church is not oriented east/west, but rather north-east/south-west.
  The foundation stone was laid in 1837, with the builders Richard and Charles Gane. 7,000 people attended the ceremony, indicating the importance of the event. The building took just over a year to complete, and cost £6,415 and 12 shillings. It was consecrated by the Bishop of Salisbury on 1 November 1838. At this time it had a west gallery which extended as far as the first set of iron columns, and the organ, actually a seraphine, was also at this end of the church. A plaque on the south wall states that on consecration it held seats for 1033 parishioners.
  Other alterations to the arrangement of the church's layout have since been made. The clergy vestry was in the south-east corner, in the area now occupied by the toilets off the south transept. The north-east porch is now the flower vestry, and the font originally stood where the organ is now, but was replaced by a newer font in 1874.
  In 1852 a new organ was installed in the west gallery, and in 1861-2 new heating apparatus was installed. In 1866 the first marble wall monument was erected. In 1871 the south transept was turned into a side chapel for weekday services. To mark the church's 50 year jubilee in 1888, the west gallery was removed and the organ moved to the chancel area and choir stalls added alongside. The font was moved to the west gallery at the same time. In 1898 the west end of the church was partially re-seated.
  In 1901 the first serious report on the church's fabric showed the folly of using the relatively cheap Westwood stone, with weak buttresses and weathered stone. Between 1902 and 1904 the chancel was raised above the level of the nave and screens erected forming and organ chamber on the north and a choir vestry to the south. In 1908 the reseating of the church was completed, reducing the seats from 1033 to nearer 750.
  The All Saint's chapel (at the eastern end of the church) was refurbished in 1911. In 1914 the high altar reredos with credence table, Bishop's stall and sedilia was erected, the work of A. L. Moore of London. The reredos is of carved oak with panels of opus sectile, showing adoring angels in the centre, with the nativity to the left and the resurrection to the right, with flanking portraits, two on either side, of the four Archangels - Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel.
  In 1927 a reredos was dedicated in the All Saints Chapel, showing the Transfiguration, and signed by A. L. and C. E. Moore and dated 192
caption: Holy Trinity Church, completed in 1838
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