Holy Trinity

Introduction

Holy Trinity Church in Newcastle under Lyme is a Grade II* listed building, first listed on 21-Oct-1949. The church was built in 1833-4, designed in the Gothic style by its first priest James Egan. The church is one of the first wave of Roman Catholic churches built after the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act.

History

In 1831 Father James Egan moved to direct work at Newcastle, having built the Church of Our Lady and St John the Baptist at Loggerheads in 1823. When completed the church was described as 'the finest modern specimen of ornamental brickwork in the kingdom'. The north aisle served as a priest's residence until 1849 when it was incorporated into the church. The south aisle was used as a Sunday school until 1864 when a separate school was built on the south side of the church.

The church was restored in 1886 when a sacristy was added, and in 1896 a new organ was installed. From 1892 the ministry of the clergy was supplemented by the Sisters of Mercy. There have been C20 additions at the east end and north-west corner, and the current presbytery to the east was built in the late C20.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is constructed of blue vitrified brick, relieved by ornamental bricks, under slate roofs. The church is rectangular on plan, consisting of an aisled and clerestoried nave of six bays, with a gallery at its west end and a shallow projecting chancel with an east window. Later additions include a sacristy, anteroom/kitchen, the Martyrs' Chapel, and an apsidal-ended confessional at the north-west corner. The interior has a nave with three wide arched main bays with lozenge-shaped piers formed of clustered shafts.

The Lady Chapel and Sacred Heart chapels both have richly-carved Victorian stone reredos with niches and numerous pinnacles and retain their contemporary altars. The sanctuary has an ornately-carved reredos and a carved high altar that has been brought forward. The Victorian altar rail with open trefoiled arches and gilding to the spandrels runs the full width of the church. The stone font is octagonal on a square base, with an intricately-carved timber cover.

The east window has Victorian stained glass while the rest, in the aisles, is quite modern. The sanctuary has patterned Victorian floor tiles, and the nave and aisles woodblock flooring was installed after 1964. To the front of the church is a war memorial commemorating those members of the congregation who lost their lives in the First World War; a further plaque was added after the Second World War. The war memorial was renovated in 2000 when the name panels were renewed.

The west front is divided into nave and aisles by full-height pilasters with traceried panels and embattled tops, and the nave and aisle tops are embattled. The façade is covered with tiers of shallow arcading divided by stringcourses, with decorative brickwork including moulded bricks, embossed or incised patterns, and projecting diaper pattern. The central recessed entrance has a two-centred arched surround of stepped brick mouldings, and the six-tier window above has cast-iron tracery within a giant ogee arch of bull-nosed bricks.

Each aisle is sub-divided into six bays by pilaster buttresses, with a decorated embattled parapet of raised diaperwork, and each bay has a two-light Decorated window with cast-iron tracery. The square chancel has a wooden east window of five lights with a traceried circle and quatrefoil decoration, set in a two-centred-arched surround of bull-nosed bricks. The sacristy has a hipped roof and three lancet windows with coloured glass on its south wall. The Martyrs' Chapel has a hipped roof and a square-headed, three-light window on its east elevation.

Each main bay has two clerestory windows with Y-tracery, and the spandrels have delicate rose-window-like piercings. The nave roof is shallow and boarded, while the aisles have low-pitched lean-to roofs. The east wall around the chancel arch is panelled with two tiers of tall, narrow, cusped recesses, and a similar three-tier feature fills the sanctuary walls. The lower sanctuary walls are revetted with mottled pink and grey marble, probably Victorian.

The three panels of the sanctuary ceiling are painted with an Agnus Dei and crosses. An organ gallery at the west end is carried on two slender columns. The war memorial is a tapering plinth surmounted by a shaft and Celtic cross, both decorated with Celtic knotwork carving.

Parish life

The parish's Saint Vincent de Paul group supports ASHA with food and clothing delivery, visits the sick and housebound, and coordinates with a support worker to help vulnerable families. The Saint Vincent de Paul Conference maintains links with two villages in India, corresponding with them and giving financial help. The Mercy Associates, a lay group inspired by Catherine McAuley, is organised by the Sisters of Mercy in residence across from Holy Trinity and meets to grow in faith and fellowship.

Holy Trinity received the CAFOD Live Simply Award in March 2018. Whispers of Hope, a charity set up by the Sisters of Mercy, helps women who suffer abuse and have complex immigration issues.

The parish runs an RCIA adult programme to explore and deepen knowledge of the Catholic faith. Harplands Hospital is served from Holy Trinity, Newcastle.