User:VH8/HTG

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Holy Trinity, Guildford
Holy Trinity, seen from the junction of the High Street with North Street.
Dedication The Holy Trinity
Denomination Church of England
Tradition High Church
Administration
Parish Guildford, Holy Trinity with St. Mary
Diocese Guildford
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Rector Revd Robert Cotton
Curate Revd Peter McBride
Other
Organist/Director of Music Martin Holford
Website holytrinityguildford.org.uk
Anglicanism Portal

The Church of the Holy Trinity, Guildford, is an Anglican church and one of the three ancient parishes of the historic market town of Guildford, dating at least to the 1180s.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Medieval origins

Holy Trinity was first documented in the 1170s or 1180s, when the Bishop of Winchester confirmed its annual payments to Merton Priory.[1]A surviving engraving[2] shows a building very similar to the neighbouring church of St. Mary in Quarry Street, with a triple-apsed east end, a tower over the crossing between the chancel, nave and transepts, which had been rendered non-projecting by the addition of the nave aisles and the outer apses: many of the original windows had been replaced with much larger Gothic ones. This church was the one into which George Abbot had his body interred following his funeral at St. John's, Croydon in 1633: his tomb, a fine example of the English Renaissance, now stands in the south-east corner of the present building. However, having suffered at the hands of severe weather[3] conditions and almost certainly from two hundred years of neglect, the tower of this structure collapsed, demolishing most of the rest of the church, except for the Weston chantry chapel at the south-west corner, which was built for Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place in 1540[4] and survives in use today as a vestry.

[edit] The present building

The present building was constructed between 1749 and 1763 to a design by James Horne,[5] following the collapse of the tower of the old church in 1740.[1] The Surrey Quarter Sessions of Christmas 1741 record an estimate of £4398 10s 9d for the rebuilding.[6] Built of red brick with some Portland stone dressings, it contained a small apsidal chancel for the occasional communion service and a large hall-like space designed for preaching, lined with first floor-level galleries, of which all but that at the West end were removed in Henry Woodyer's restoration of 1869, at which time the windows along the sides were altered from two rows to one. Arthur Blomfield extended the chancel significantly and provided non-projecting transepts[5][4] as a side-chapel (the chapel of The Queen’s Royal Regiment)[7] and a chamber for the large pipe organ in 1888.

[edit] Role as pro-Cathedral

Holy Trinity also acted as pro-Cathedral for the fledgling Diocese of Guildford from its creation in 1927 until the consecration of the Cathedral on Stag Hill in 1962.[4] A certain amount of work was undertaken during this period to restore, redecorate and refurnish the church[8][9]

  • New oak reredos provided [10]
  • additional panels in queen's chapel[11]
  • removal of altar step, provision of silver and aumbry[12]
  • improvements to churchyard [13]

[edit] Music

Holy Trinity has a fine choral tradition: the present choir has around forty members and sings at the main Sunday Eucharist and at Evensong.[14]

[edit] Bell-ringing

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Guildford History Notes. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  2. ^ Engraving of HTG. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  3. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  4. ^ a b c http://www.htag-guildford.org/Holy_Trinity_Church_History.html
  5. ^ a b Pevsner, Nikolaus and Nairn, Ian (2002): The Buildings of England: Surrey, page 270. Yale University Press, New Haven CT and London. ISBN 0-300-09675-5
  6. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  7. ^ http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/chapels/holy_trinity_1.html
  8. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  9. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  10. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  11. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  12. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  13. ^ National Records Archives. Guildford sites and history. Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  14. ^ http://www.holytrinityguildford.org.uk/groups-worship-htchoir.htm