Details
BOMERE HEATH C.P. LEATON
SJ 41 NE
6/92 Church of the
- Holy Trinity
GV II
Parish church. 1859 by Samuel Pountney Smith of Shrewsbury for John
Arthur Lloyd, and steeple dated 1871 (at rear), by the same architect
for Charles Spencer Lloyd. Tooled yellow/grey Grinshill sandstone
ashlar with smooth ashlar dressings. Plain tile roofs. 5-bay nave
with south porch and north aisle, 2-bay chancel with family pew to south
and 2-bay north chapel, and north-west steeple. Lancet Gothic style.
Chamfered plinths and string courses, continuous hoodmoulds, gabled
angle buttresses with chamfered corners and offsets, chamfered and moulded
eaves and parapeted gable ends with copings, gabled kneelers, and crosses
at apices. Much dogtooth ornament. Nave: paired chamfered lancets
with continuous hoodmould. South doorway in second bay from west with
2 arches, the inner with continuous hollow chamfer and the outer moulded
and springing from shafts with stiff-leaf capitals.; hoodmould with carved
stops, and pair of boarded doors. Gabled porch with flanking flush
buttresses, carved stone gargoyles and archway of 2 orders, the inner
moulded and springing from shafts and the outer continuously moulded,
and hoodmould with carved stops. Chamfered lancets to sides and interior
with side benches. West end: central flying buttress running up to
diagonally-placed square bellcote at apex of gable, with squinches, quatre-
foil panels and semi-blind lancets to base, trefoil-headed arched openings,
buttresses at angles, carved frieze and short spire with cross at apex.
Chamfered lancets flanking buttresses with continuous hoodmould. Cham-
fered Caernarvon-arched boarded doorway in angle to left. 2 chamfered
rectangular staircase windows to left. Lean-to 4-bay north aisle with
chamfered lancets, and moulded-arched doorway set in gabled projection
to left, consisting of one order of shafts with stiff-leaf capitals
and hoodmould with carved stops. Chancel with chamfered lancets.
East end with stepped triple lancets; each has nook shafts with stiff-
leaf capitals, chamfered arches, and continuous hoodmould with carved
stops. Gabled former family pew with stone ridge stack consisting
of square base, circular shaft with 4 arched openings at top, and trefoil-
headed gable above each.Spheric-triangular window in gable with 3 quatre-
foils in plate tracery, ground-floor chamfered lancet to left, boarded
door to right with chamfered reveals and hoodmould, and central chamfered
quatrefoil opening to basement. Right-hand return front with chamfered
lancet and chamfered segmental-arched basement door with steps down.
North chapel with chamfered lancets. Trefoiled circular window in
gable to west. Steeple: 4-stage tower. Double-chamfered plinth,
string courses, diaper band between second and third stages with quatre-
foils in lozenges, angle buttresses with chamfered offsets and gabled
tops. Corbelled parapet with cusped chamfered arches on carved foliate
brackets, moulded parapet string with central carved gargoyle to each
face, and battlemented parapet with moulded coping. Square corner
pinnacles with chamfered corners, quatrefoil frieze, spirelets, and
flying buttresses to crocketed spire; crocketed louvred lucarnes to
cardinal faces with pierced trefoils in spandrels and trefoil arches
on shafts with stiff-leaf capitals; smaller trefoiled lucarnes above
and small blind lucarnes on shafts above buttresses to angled faces.
Paired louvred lancets to belfry with moulded arches springing from nook
shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, and hoodmoulds. Circular clock in
third stage to west with moulded surround, circular panel to north with
cusped six-pointed star, and cusped square panel with uncarved shield
to north. Pairs of chamfered rectangular windows in second stage to
west and north, each with floating hoodmould; central carved shield
to west with lion. Lancets with nook shafts in first stage to west
and north. 2-storey link to nave with 2 tiers of chamfered lancets.
Interior: richly ornamented and furnished. 5-bay nave roof with chamf-
ered arched-braced collar trusses springing from short wall shafts with
dogtooth ornament, king posts with struts, and pairs of purlins with
cusped wind braces. 4-bay aisle arcade consisting of monolithic circular
piers, with fillets and moulded bases and capitals, and double-chamfered
arches. Moulded chancel arch including one order of marble shafts
with moulded bases and capitals. 2-bay chancel roof with moulded arched-
braced collars springing from short wall shafts with stiff-leaf capitals,
chamfered king posts, pairs of chamfered purlins with chamfered cusped
windbraces, and pierced screen in front of ashlar pieces with billet
ornament. Area between rafters with painted gold stars. East windows
have marble nook shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, chamfered arches with
dogtooth ornament, and hoodmould with foliate stops. North chapel
and former family pew to south with double-chamfered arches springing
from short wall shafts. North chapel has flat ceiling with moulded
cross beams. Chamfered round arch between aisle and north chapel spring-
ing from short wall shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. Double-chamfered
arches to tower-link block, springing from short wall shafts with foliate
capitals. Baptistry in link block with wooden quadripartite rib vault
springing from stone corbels in corners. Screen to vestry beneath
tower consisting of 2 moulded Caernarvon arches with marble shafts and
moulded circular panel to spandrel. Chamfered rear arches throughout.
Complete mid-and late C19 fittings: reredos around 3 sides of sanctuary
consisting of an arcade with marble columns, moulded
trefoil arches, hoodmould with carved stops and frieze above with dogtooth
ornament. Painted panels depicting the symbols of the Eucharist, the
4 evangelists and the Last Supper. 2 sedilia with piscina or aumbry
to right. Wooden altar rails with wrought-iron supports. Choir stalls
with carved heads to chamfered arm rests and frontals with blind cusped
trefoil arcading. Pew in family pew with carved poppyheads. Polygonal
wooden pulpit with trefoil-arcaded sides and shafting. Arcaded reader's
desk. Brass eagle lectern with wrought-iron support. Pews with chamf-
ered trefoiled-ogee panelled ends and moulded arm rests. Similar choir
stalls at west end too. Organ at west end with Gothic case. Circular
grey marble font in baptistry with stem formed from 4 red marble clustered
shafts and bowl with carved relief at the baptism of Christ. 6-bay
trefoil-arcaded wooden screen to north chapel. 2 hatchments in chapel
also. Encaustic tiles. Stained glass in east and south-west windows.
Monuments: tablet in north chapel to the patron, John Arthur Lloyd
(d. 1864); brass with painted inscription and stone surround with carved
base, shaft with moulded bases and capitals, moulded trefoiled arch
with dogtooth ornament, and hoodmould with carved stops. Drawing in
vestry of south elevation, signed by S. Pountney Smith and dated Shrewsbury
1857. This church and the neighbouring vicarage (q.v.) were to be
part of a model village alongside the Shrewsbury-Baschurch road at this
point, but no more was built. Pevsner dates the tower and the north
aisle to 1872. This is a fine example of a mid-C19 church by a good
provincial architect. B.o.E., p.164; D.H.S. Cranage; An Architectural
Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Shrewsbury Churches, p.860;
Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire and Shropshire (1900), p. 117.
Listing NGR: SJ4693418353
