Details
GRIMSBY
TA2808SE CHURCH LANE, Old Clee
699-1/33/107 (East side)
06/06/51 Church of the Holy Trinity and Holy
Mary the Virgin
GV I
Parish church. C11 Saxo-Norman west tower with C14-C15
parapet; nave arcades of c1170-90; crossing, transepts and
chancel dated 1192. Reseated 1858, externally restored 1878 by
Joseph Fowler of Louth, with new north and south transept
walls, chancel, porch and crossing tower; further restorations
1935-7 by Robert Godfrey, involving wall repairs and
underpinning.
MAERIALS: early sections of west tower and aisles in random
cobble, rubble and squared limestone, with ashlar parapets;
chancel of limestone and ironstone ashlar; porch, transepts
and crossing tower in rock-faced ashlar. Lead roof to chancel,
remainder with slate roofs.
PLAN: Cruciform: 2-bay chancel with north vestry, 3-bay aisled
nave with single-bay transepts, south porch and west tower.
EXTERIOR: Chamfered plinth, angle buttresses and buttresses
between bays, coped gables with finials throughout, except for
tower. Chancel: north and south sides have single lancets to
east bay, twin needle lancets to west bay; triple east lancet
with hoodmould. Vestry has pointed arched door and 2-light
window.
Transepts: sill string course; north and south sides have
pairs of lancets beneath linked hoodmould, and vesica window
above with continuous hoodmould; north transept has twin
needle lancets to east and single lancet to west side; south
transept has single needle lancet to east side. Low 2-stage
crossing tower has upper stage with shafts to angles, pair of
lancets to each side, string course, gargoyles to angles,
plain parapet.
North aisle: restored 2-light square-headed windows with
reticulated tracery, small restored pointed door with
hoodmould, round-headed west window. South aisle: 2 restored
3-light south windows and single 2-light west window, all
triangular-headed with trefoiled lights and shafted mullions.
South porch: pointed wave-moulded outer arch with continuous
hoodmould, vesica window above with niche and carved base;
single pointed windows to east and west sides. Pointed
wave-moulded inner arch with early door.
2-stage west tower: plain plinth, lower stage cobble-built
with ironstone quoins to lower part (with late C20 pointing):
ironstone and bands of roughly-coursed squared limestone
above. Round-headed west door with massive quoins and
voussoirs, chamfered imposts and arch of 2 orders, the inner
order slightly recessed and the outer one with a plain
hoodmould. Above, single keyhole windows to each side (that to
south altered by late C20 cement rendering), with an irregular
series of corbels to south side and an eaves dripmould to
north side. String course. Stepped-in upper stage has twin
round-arched belfry openings with mid-wall shafts with cushion
capitals, long-and-short quoins, chamfered impost blocks and
monolithic heads. String course with gargoyles, embattled
parapet with concave-pointed merlons and 8 crocketed
pinnacles.
INTERIOR: pointed chancel arch of 2 chamfered and roll-moulded
orders on keeled triple-shafted responds; reset C13 double
piscina with nook-shafts, pointed moulded arches with nailhead
moulding, hoodmould with paterae; aumbry with dogtooth
moulding; south-east window with nook-shafts, moulded arch and
cusped head; east window with marble shafts, moulded and
dogtoothed arches, hoodmoulds with carved stops; pointed
chamfered vestry door with hoodmould and carved stops.
Crossing has pointed arches to transepts, nave and aisles with
bold roll-mouldings on triple-shafted responds, some keeled,
and those to the south with nailhead between the shafts;
various abaci, those to the north with nailhead moulding.
Reset medieval piscina to north transept.
Nave north arcade in 2 stages: 2 east bays with round arches
of 2 roll-moulded and plain orders on 2 pairs of
quadruple-shafted responds (with central responds rather than
a central pier), with square bases, chamfered plinths and
scalloped capitals with some carved detail.
The later, wider west bay has a round arch of 2 orders with
zigzag and lozenge mouldings, on quadruple-shafted responds
with scalloped capitals; one shaft has cable moulding, and one
abacus has toothed moulding and a long-snouted beast-head
label-stop.
The later south arcade has 2 wide bays with round arches of 2
orders with a hoodmould, quadruple rolls to the inner order,
and filleted, cable, billet and pellet mouldings to the outer
order, on a round pier and roll-moulded responds with
scalloped capitals and chamfered abaci.
The south-east respond has a small inserted pointed-trefoiled
niche. The central southern pier has 3 plaques with Latin
inscriptions, one recording the dedication of the church by
Bishop (later Saint) Hugh of Lincoln in 1192, others recording
the reopening of the church after restorations in 1878 and
1937. C19 roofs: arch-braced to nave, scissor-braced to
transepts, barrel-roof to chancel with moulded wallplate and
carved angels. Norman tub font with cable-moulded rim and
cylindrical base with roll-moulded steps.
FITTINGS: include C19 wooden pews, pulpit, altar rails etc.
MONUMENTS: include: C15 inscribed marble tablet in south aisle
to Kygger family of nearby Hoole; C19 Gothic-style marble
wall-tablet in chancel to Rev. W Grant-Thorold and others.
Cast-iron wall plaque to Cornelius Chapman, Humber Pilot,
1840, and stone tablet of 1819 by Stimson to A Mott, Post
Captain, (who played a key role in the Nore Mutiny of 1797).
1874 restored painted board with 1793 bellringers' rules.
Section of carved medieval cross-shaft in porch.
A church notable for its Saxon and Norman work.
(Pye LW: The Story of Old Clee Church and St Peter's Church,
Cleethorpes: Gloucester: 1949-: 1-31; The Buildings of
England: Pevsner N, Harris J, and Antram N: Lincolnshire:
London: 1989-: 344-5; Grimsby Planning Department: Old Clee
Conservation Area: Grimsby Borough Council: 1972-: NO.39).
Listing NGR: TA2899108454
