Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Place / Stanley Road, Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire

Description

Denomination: Anglican

Dedication: Holy Trinity

Built: 1883-89 with later additions

Photography: John Ball
Date: 25 May 2011
Camera: Nikon D50 digital SLR

Note 1: Holy Trinity Church, set between Trinity and Stanley Roads, is by J. H. Middleton, the son of John Middleton of Cheltenham, who steered the firm into the Perpendicular Gothic already espoused by Bodley in the 1870s. The church was built in stages. The nave and gabled north-west porch date to 1883-1886, with the crossing and transepts dating to 1887-1888. The chancel was constructed in 1887-9, but the intended crossing tower with pyramidal roof remained unfinished, the intended spire never materialised.

The church is built of bull-nosed rubble masonry with freestone dressings, quoins, plinth band and stringcourses etc, stepped buttresses, and slate roofs with tiled cresting, crucifix finial to west gable, others broken. It is characterised by long traceried windows, more elaborate in the transepts, and with the western pair divided by a buttress. The interior is broad and aisleless with hammerbeam trusses carried low on corbels, the arches of the crossing ornate with shafting and Perpendicular panelling, and the chancel roof with niches under the corbels. The chancel floor is of black and white marble. The pulpit, an arts and crafts design in wood, dates to 1889, the stalls date to 1905. The reredos is an elaborate, carved and painted wood triptych under a crocketed spire by W. Ellery Anderson (1932). [Source: Coflein online database of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (accessed 20 May 2016)]

Note 2: The building [is] beautiful! Dating from the late 19th century, Holy Trinity is a splendid example of the Perpendicular Gothic style. Behind the high altar is a reredos of carved wood, painted with burnished gold, depicting the Annuniciation, Nativity, and Pieta. An octagonal wooden pulpit and stone baptismal font complement the interior quite nicely. [Source: Ship of Fools website – Mystery Worshipper (accessed 27 September 2015)]

• http://www.jlb2011.co.uk/walespic/churches/aberystwyth1.htm (link opens in new window)