Church History
Exterior
Holy Trinity church is grade II* listed and sits on a rise above the coast road. From the large churchyard to the rear of the church are wonderful views across to the cliffs and to the sea. The church is built of knapped flint with dressed stone detailing and the earliest existing parts date to the thirteenth century. The west tower with its double bell-openings is Early English, as are the y-traceried windows of the north aisle. There is one bell in the tower dating from of 1715 and with the name Thomas Newman on it. The chancel dates from the fourteenth century and in the north wall are three fine windows with Decorated flowing tracery. There are further examples of flowing tracery in the west windows of the aisles and tower. There was some later remodelling of this earlier thirteenth and fourteenth century building. The south aisle was refenestrated in the fifteenth century with a curious alternating arrangement of stepped windows and the south wall of the chancel was pierced with two big Perpendicular windows with fine panel tracery, no doubt to give light to the choir stalls.
On the South aisle window-corbels are some carved heads, now quite eroded. They depict, from west to east, a lady, a knight, animals, a queen and a king. Also, under the gable of the south aisle, are two grotesques, a man’s head, and a man pulling his mouth wide open. The old porch has a blocked niche above the entrance. On the east buttress are the remains of a ‘mass-dial’ with the metal base of the gnomon still embedded in the stone. The interior of the porch is paved with local pamments. The Victorian south door has some fine floriated ironwork, and on each side a carved corbel head, one of a bishop, one a queen.
The Churchyard
The War Memorial is unusually situated by the road in an angle of the wall of the churchyard embankment. It is a handsome flint and stone construction with the appropriate and rather moving inscription. The attractive Victorian Lychgate has been moved back from the busy main road and has the carved inscription, O enter into His gates with thanksgiving and Into His courts with praise….. Be thankful unto Him. The Calvary in the churchyard is a memorial to Felix Hackett Matthews, he was Rector of the parish fro 46 years and died in 1964, he is buried in the churchyard. The figure is a fibreglass replacement for the original vandalised in the 1970s.
Interior
The interior has fourteenth century arcades and wide aisles, but was extensively restored in two restorations of 1854 and 1886. The nave and chancel are covered with a mixture of old and new pamment flooring in terracotta and ochre. The restorations replaced most of the window traceries and the roofs. Just by the door is an old stone of the 16th century commemorating a man called Thomas, it is set sideways with much worn lettering and was found there in 1963. There’s another outside the porch. The fourteenth century font is decorated with blakn traceried panels and has a font cover dating from the 1940s designed by Cyril Upcher. The high altar in the chancel is of stone and beside it in the south wall there are carved seats of the Sedilia and a decorated 6-petal piscina retaining its recess for the sacred vessels. At the head of both side aisles are two side altars with riddel posts established in the late 1920s, the one to the south dedicated to St Francis and the north to Our Lady. The church plate contains a medieval paten. In the choir are some old poppyhead carvings grafted onto the Victorian pews of 1886. Though rather battered, one can make out on the rector's stall the figure of a fifteenth lady with butterfly headress, a merchant, various seedheads and acorns a monstrous face with its tongue out. There are fragments of fourteenth cenury glass in the south choir tracery, all very dirty, but including a bearded head of a saint.
Stained Glass
The 5-light east window was designed by Edward Frampton, and was inserted in 1896. It shows the Ascension of Our Lord, with vigorous drawing and strong composition. The south chancel windows also by Frampton: of St. George and St Cecilia, after 1896, The south aisle window of the Resurrection, 1904, which is rather dark. Some Arts & Crafts influence is seen in Frampton’s window at the east end of the south aisle, 1911, where St. Francis preaches to the birds. In the north aisle are saints Hilary and Stephen, 1938, St. Elizabeth with the child, John the Baptist, and Our Lady,1954, by G. Maile of London. The easternmost window of this aisle is by Harry Stammers, 1959, in a simple 'Festival of Britain' style, typical of its date. It depicts people in various historical costumes, and is signed with his symbol of a ship’s wheel and an S. The west windows of the aisles were re-glazed in more modern times. The figures of two apostles St. Peter and St. John, 1850’s, were taken from the tower window in 1963 and inserted here in the 1989. They are by J. Grant of Costessey; the roundels show a Pelican and the Agnes Dei. Two other roundels, the Trinity and the Star of David, were lost during the re-glazing.
Further Information
You may like to read Simon Knott's account of the church on his Norfolk Churches website, or the English Heritage listing record. The church is the custodian of a medieval paten and there is an article on this treasure here.
Holy Trinity church is grade II* listed and sits on a rise above the coast road. From the large churchyard to the rear of the church are wonderful views across to the cliffs and to the sea. The church is built of knapped flint with dressed stone detailing and the earliest existing parts date to the thirteenth century. The west tower with its double bell-openings is Early English, as are the y-traceried windows of the north aisle. There is one bell in the tower dating from of 1715 and with the name Thomas Newman on it. The chancel dates from the fourteenth century and in the north wall are three fine windows with Decorated flowing tracery. There are further examples of flowing tracery in the west windows of the aisles and tower. There was some later remodelling of this earlier thirteenth and fourteenth century building. The south aisle was refenestrated in the fifteenth century with a curious alternating arrangement of stepped windows and the south wall of the chancel was pierced with two big Perpendicular windows with fine panel tracery, no doubt to give light to the choir stalls.
On the South aisle window-corbels are some carved heads, now quite eroded. They depict, from west to east, a lady, a knight, animals, a queen and a king. Also, under the gable of the south aisle, are two grotesques, a man’s head, and a man pulling his mouth wide open. The old porch has a blocked niche above the entrance. On the east buttress are the remains of a ‘mass-dial’ with the metal base of the gnomon still embedded in the stone. The interior of the porch is paved with local pamments. The Victorian south door has some fine floriated ironwork, and on each side a carved corbel head, one of a bishop, one a queen.
The Churchyard
The War Memorial is unusually situated by the road in an angle of the wall of the churchyard embankment. It is a handsome flint and stone construction with the appropriate and rather moving inscription. The attractive Victorian Lychgate has been moved back from the busy main road and has the carved inscription, O enter into His gates with thanksgiving and Into His courts with praise….. Be thankful unto Him. The Calvary in the churchyard is a memorial to Felix Hackett Matthews, he was Rector of the parish fro 46 years and died in 1964, he is buried in the churchyard. The figure is a fibreglass replacement for the original vandalised in the 1970s.
Interior
The interior has fourteenth century arcades and wide aisles, but was extensively restored in two restorations of 1854 and 1886. The nave and chancel are covered with a mixture of old and new pamment flooring in terracotta and ochre. The restorations replaced most of the window traceries and the roofs. Just by the door is an old stone of the 16th century commemorating a man called Thomas, it is set sideways with much worn lettering and was found there in 1963. There’s another outside the porch. The fourteenth century font is decorated with blakn traceried panels and has a font cover dating from the 1940s designed by Cyril Upcher. The high altar in the chancel is of stone and beside it in the south wall there are carved seats of the Sedilia and a decorated 6-petal piscina retaining its recess for the sacred vessels. At the head of both side aisles are two side altars with riddel posts established in the late 1920s, the one to the south dedicated to St Francis and the north to Our Lady. The church plate contains a medieval paten. In the choir are some old poppyhead carvings grafted onto the Victorian pews of 1886. Though rather battered, one can make out on the rector's stall the figure of a fifteenth lady with butterfly headress, a merchant, various seedheads and acorns a monstrous face with its tongue out. There are fragments of fourteenth cenury glass in the south choir tracery, all very dirty, but including a bearded head of a saint.
Stained Glass
The 5-light east window was designed by Edward Frampton, and was inserted in 1896. It shows the Ascension of Our Lord, with vigorous drawing and strong composition. The south chancel windows also by Frampton: of St. George and St Cecilia, after 1896, The south aisle window of the Resurrection, 1904, which is rather dark. Some Arts & Crafts influence is seen in Frampton’s window at the east end of the south aisle, 1911, where St. Francis preaches to the birds. In the north aisle are saints Hilary and Stephen, 1938, St. Elizabeth with the child, John the Baptist, and Our Lady,1954, by G. Maile of London. The easternmost window of this aisle is by Harry Stammers, 1959, in a simple 'Festival of Britain' style, typical of its date. It depicts people in various historical costumes, and is signed with his symbol of a ship’s wheel and an S. The west windows of the aisles were re-glazed in more modern times. The figures of two apostles St. Peter and St. John, 1850’s, were taken from the tower window in 1963 and inserted here in the 1989. They are by J. Grant of Costessey; the roundels show a Pelican and the Agnes Dei. Two other roundels, the Trinity and the Star of David, were lost during the re-glazing.
Further Information
You may like to read Simon Knott's account of the church on his Norfolk Churches website, or the English Heritage listing record. The church is the custodian of a medieval paten and there is an article on this treasure here.
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