Former Holy Trinity Church

Details

782/5/350 TRINITY ROAD 08-JUN-73 Former Holy Trinity Church (Formerly listed as: TRINITY ROAD Holy Trinity Church)

II Former parish church of 1880 by E. Christian. Closed for worship and converted to flats in 2001.

MATERIALS: Rock-faced light-brown sandstone, freestone dressings, graded slate roof, lead spire.

PLAN: Nave and chancel under a single roof, north-west tower and porch, north and south aisles, south vestry and parish room.

EXTERIOR: Early-English style with dominant asymmetrical tower and spire. It has a polygonal west turret in the lower 2 stages. The north doorway has 3 orders of shafts, and a trumeau under a tympanum with cusped circle. In the second stage are 3 blind arches on red sandstone shafts, incorporating a single lancet on the north side. The taller bell stage has double lancets in deep splays and with louvres, under a tall pyramidal spire with lucarnes. The nave has a west doorway with nook shafts and diaperwork tympanum of red and yellow sandstone. Above are 4 lancets with circles in the spandrels, and 3 stepped lights in the gable. Nave and chancel have 8 clerestorey lancets, terminating in an apsidal chancel with lancets, sill band, and impost band carried over the windows as hood moulds. The south aisle has 2-light plate-tracery windows, and a west window of 3 stepped lights under plate-tracery circles and relieving arch. The north aisle is 4 cross-gabled bays, each with 3 stepped lancets, and entrance between third and fourth bays in a shallow gabled projection with continuous chamfer to the doorway. On the south side are hipped vestry and polygonal parish room at right angles to it.

INTERIOR: Not inspected at the time of survey (July 2009).

HISTORY: Built in 1880 by Ewan Christian (1814-95), a prolific architect whose speciality was church work. He commenced practice in 1842 and was appointed architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1851, a post which brought many commissions, especially in the chancels for which the Commissioners were responsible. He gained a reputation for efficiency and bringing jobs in on time and on budget. His work, however, does not generally enjoy a high reputation and much of it is routine, although his best churches, notably St Mark, Leicester, and Holy Trinity, Folkestone, can stand comparison with the better churches of the C19. This church closed in the late C20. Fixtures, including stained glass, were removed in 1998 and the building was converted to 12 flats in 2001.

SOURCES: Pevsner, N., The Buildings of England: Yorkshire, the North Riding (1969), 323.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The former church of the Holy Trinity, Scarborough, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * The church has retained its original external character, in spite of conversion to dwellings, and is a good example of the work of Ewan Christian, a C19 church architect with a national profile. * The church is a landmark building in a late-C19 suburban development of Scarborough, and a particularly impressive sight from the east where its tall apsidal chancel and the tower create a monumental character.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

447243

Legacy System:

LBS

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