Parish Church of the Holy Trinity

Details

QUEENBOROUGH

933/1/10016 HIGH STREET 19-OCT-51 (North side) PARISH CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY

GV II* Church. Late C14 core, associated with Edward III's foundation of the town. Tower is very difficult to date and considered by some to be C12 although a C14 date is also possible. Extensive internal C17 fittings. All windows renewed in 1885 which may be the date of a major restoration. MATERIALS: Random rubble with a red tiled roof. PLAN: W tower, nave and chancel in one; SW porch. Corrugated iron building with Gothic windows attached to N side.

EXTERIOR: N and S sides have buttresses, C17 or early C19 in origin, with deep set-offs, angle buttresses to the chancel and two 2-light windows, each light round-headed . 3-light C19 Perpendicular style traceried E window. Each side has a single roof dormer with a hipped roof, tile-hung cheeks and pair of 2-light timber windows with segmental arched heads under a timber hoodmould. The SW porch has a chamfered outer doorway, segmental-headed inner doorway and C19 or C20 boarded roof. Short W tower, difficult to date, with diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet and large projecting SE stair turret with embattled parapet rising above the top of the tower. The tower also has large W buttresses at right angles to the W face, these are dated 1636 by Pevsner. Victorian Perpendicular style W doorway with carved spandrels, 3-light c. 1900 window above.

INTERIOR: The interior has a canted boarded roof with late C17 painted decoration, now faded and obscured by damage from a 1930s fire in the tower. White clouds and gold stars decorate the portion over the nave. At the E end the centrepiece represents the Angel of the Apocalypse sounding the last trump in a painted egg and dart medallion with cherubim painted in smaller medallions. The painting is thought to be Dutch. There may be an earlier roof structure behind the boards. Hollow-chamfered tower arch. 1610 font with an octagonal bowl on a thick and elaborately moulded baluster-like stem. The bowl is inscribed with the name of Nicholas Taylor 'Jurat of this towne' and a bold representation of the postern gate of Queenborough Castle (demolished c.1650) shown with two cannon. Jacobean domed font cover. C19 timber drum pulpit with panelled sides pierced with stylised flower motifs. Nave benches with very simple, thick shaped ends. Chunky choir stalls with reeded backs to the seats include the mayor's seat, dated 1885. The organ chamber is in a gallery projecting over the S door and forming an internal porch. 1939 gilded sanctuary rails, the remains of a former wrought iron chancel screen. No reredos, partly because changes to the ground level of the churchyard mean that the E window sill is very low. Paintings of Moses and Aaron, dating to c.1700, hang in the nave but presumably originating in the sanctuary. 2 brass candelabra presented in 1718 and 1724.

The late C17 and early C18 fittings correspond to a period of prosperity and much rebuilding in Queenborough, which preserves small but smart houses of this period in the High Street.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The Church of the Holy Trinity is of immense interest as a parish church of C14 origins with much C17 work and with an outstanding survival of a late C17 painted ceiling and early C17 font with unusual relief carvings. The late C19 reordering of the church, with new windows and internal fittings was sensitively done and complements the earlier fabric. It stands in a churchyard with a wealth of good monuments. The church is a key element, historically and architecturally, in the main street of small town rich in historic buildings.

SOURCES: Pevsner, The Buildings of England, North East and East Kent, 1983, p420 Queenborough Society, A Walk round Historic Queenborough, 1990 Welcome to Queenborough Church, n.d.

Legacy

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445079

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LBS

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