The church and grounds are well maintained and it looks
as thought the local community take care and are proud of their church.
The church's website (visit
link) tell us that:
"In the 1860's, the Earl of Radnor had elaborate plans for the development of
the west end of Folkestone. In 1868, the first stage in the building of Holy
Trinity, entirely paid for by the Earl was completed. The architect, Ewan
Christian, drew up the plans. The Vicarage was built next door in 1870, and
extensions to the Church were added, including a tower and spire in 1888.
The congregation expanded under Canon F.C. Woodhouse, Vicar from 1885-1905, who
with his second wife was a great benefactor of the Church. Fine furnishings were
installed including the reredos (Clayton and Bell), the sanctuary ceiling
painting and much of the stained glass. In the late Victorian and early
Edwardian era, well-to-do visitors and residents flocked to the town. Holy
Trinity seems to have been a popular Church. Indeed, shortage of space led to
the adding of choir and clergy vestries in 1913.
The First World War had a profound effect with many of the Congregation leaving
the town and many of the larger houses being requisitioned for military
purposes.Gradually the Congregation returned after the War but society had
radically changed.
Nevertheless, under Canon W.H. Elliott (Vicar, 1918-1929), additions such as the
ambone lectern, the alabaster pulpit in memory of those in the parish who had
died in the 1914-18 War, and decoration of the All Saints Chapel were completed.
Plans for building the south porch were also drawn up.
From the start, the Church had gained a reputation for its choir and high
musical standards. This was further enhanced under the Choirmaster, W.C. Luttman,
in the 1920's. Moreover, Canon W.H. Elliott was a preacher of renown and
services were broadcast regularly on radio, possibly one of the first churches
from which services were broadcast. A literary and musical Society, the Bouverie
Society, was founded and flourished, the Church engaging lecturers and musicians
including Sir Leonard Woolley, Forbes Robertson, Myra Hesse, Cortot, and
Schnabel. These lectures and concerts were held at the Grand Hotel, Leas Cliff
Hall and Pleasure Gardens Theatre.
Canon Watkins, Vicar from 1929-1941, encouraged the Congregation to support the
building of St George's Church Hall to serve the needs of the new housing built
at the west end of Shorncliffe Road. This was opened in 1938 - see the history
of St George's Church on this site.
Church life was drastically affected by the outbreak of the Second World War as
most of the population was compulsorily evacuated from the town. The Vicar's
income, which was derived from pew rents, dropped dramatically and it was
decided to close Holy Trinity Church. Canon Cook, the Vicar of Christ Church, a
nearby Church, looked after the Holy Trinity Congregation who remained, becoming
Priest in Charge of the parish in 1941. The destruction of Christ Church from an
enemy air attack in 1942 resulted in the re-opening of Holy Trinity and
subsequently the two parishes were merged.
After the war, work gradually took place to repair damage to Holy Trinity Church
- the result of high explosive bombs falling near the Church in 1940. By 1979,
all the stained glass windows that had been destroyed in the sanctuary and north
side of the Church had been replaced. The Church now boasts a collection of
Victorian glass, a William Morris and Co window, and fine examples of twentieth
century glass from the studios of J.E. Nuttgens, AK Nicholson, and Canterbury
Cathedral Glassworks.
The original organ was replaced in 1888 by one built by Bishop and Son. It had
several overhauls and was reconstructed in 1966 by JW Walker & Son."
The church is Grade II* listed and the English Heritage website (visit
link) lists the church thus:
"737/10/249 SANDGATE ROAD 11-MAR-75 FOLKESTONE (Northwest side) Church of the
Holy Trinity
II* By Ewan Christian: 1866-8, S aisle and transept finished 1882, N aisle,
transept and tower completed in 1888. Early 20th-century work by G H Fellowes
Prynne: vestries 1913, SW porch 1927-8. MATERIALS: Squared Kentish ragstone
rubble with Bath stone dressings with small amounts of red polychrome brick and
stone decorative details. Slate roofs.
Plan: Nave with clerestory, semi-circular apsidal chancel, octagonal
crossing tower over the choir, gabled N and S transepts, N and S aisles with
transverse gabled bays, NW porch, SW porch and NE vestries.
Exterior: The style of the church is of the 13th century with lancet and
plate tracery windows. The principal facade is to the S on to Sandgate Road.
This is dominated by the scale of the nave roof, the crossing tower, the series
of transverse gables on the aisle and the large gable of the transept. There is
a decorative cornice throughout. The clerestory has paired lancet windows placed
opposite the valleys of the aisle gables. These gables, divided from one another
by buttresses, have two-light windows with a punched round window in the masonry
above them. These windows, like those on the transepts and apse, have brick and
stone polychrome heads. The buttressed S transept has a door, also with a
polychrome head, and three tall, equal-height lancets and, in the gable, an
oculus with sexfoil cusping and set in a polychrome frieze and with a polychrome
head. Between the springing of the apse windows and the eaves is stone
polychrome decoration of grey and cream lozenges which serve to emphasise this
part of the building. The crossing tower turns from square to octagonal with the
octagonal stage having single-light moulded and shafted openings and a
13th-century-style cornice below the octagonal slated spirelet. The W end has a
pair of two-light windows and a large rose window in the gable. The N transept
has a projecting stair turret to allow access to the upper level of the organ
chamber. Abutting the N transept is a NE vestry which is flat-roofed and
embattled. The SW porch is flat-roofed and has a plain parapet.
Interior: The internal walls are of bare brick. The interior is on a
massive scale with a nave of great width. The bare brick walls have
polychromatic detail and stone dressings. At the E end of the nave is a very
tall crossing arch on corbelled stone shafts with carved capitals. A similar
arch leads into the sanctuary space but there are plainer arches into the organ
chamber in the N transept and the chapel in the S. The apse windows have shafts
with carved capitals between them. The five-bay arcades to the aisles have
circular Mansfield sandstone columns on square stone bases with carved capitals
of different designs. The tie-beams of the nave roof carry crown-posts and are
supported on carved corbels with detached wall-shafts. In the sanctuary the roof
has a painted ceiling depicting Christ in Majesty accompanied by saints and
angels, with the ribs extending into shafts with carved capitals either side of
the windows. The wooden flooring at the E end of the nave was installed in 2009.
Principal Fixtures: The fittings are of excellent quality throughout. The
gilded and painted Italianate reredos by Clayton and Bell dates from 1889 and
has scenes from the Life of Christ flanked by panels with angels and other
figures: the sides of the reredos are hinged. There is a decorative brass
sanctuary rail. The pulpit, wall to the chancel and lectern form a unified
design in alabaster and marble by Fellowes Prynne. The pulpit was erected as a
First World War memorial with a sounding board and panelling added in 1925. It
has white marble figures of the British national saints on a base with
multi-coloured polished marble shafts and inset marble panels. The lectern has a
statue of St John the Evangelist. To the low screen are fine wrought-iron gates
and grilles with standing bronze archangels: the gates have copper panels and
enamel monograms. A similar wrought-iron screen of 1909 divides the body of the
church from the S chapel. The choir stalls have decorative traceried panels and
the nave has simple benches with shaped ends. At the W end the nave is decorated
with wood panelling with flamboyant blind tracery of 1906 from designs of G H
Fellowes Prynne as a backdrop to the contemporary font and font cover. The font
of 1907 is made up of polished marbles and stands on a base with multi-coloured
marble shafts which in turn stand on a base of dark polished Labrador stone
plinth. The cover is richly crocketed and traceried and is of 1909. There is a
good collection of stained glass dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. The
large, nave west window is a fine example of late 19th-century craftsmanship
depicting nine choirs of angels giving praise to the Holy Trinity. The S
transept E window is probably by Clayton and Bell and records a death in 1887;
the S window is by Morris and Co, 1922. The N aisle and chancel windows were
blown out in the Second World War and have been replaced with 20th century
glass. The N aisle NE window is by J E Nuttgens, the three next to it by F W
Cole, of Canterbury Cathedral Glassworks. The sanctuary windows were designed by
G E R Smith and H L Pawle of A K Nicholson.
History: Holy Trinity church was built in phases over a period of about
20 years at a total cost of £13,357 paid by the 3rd and 4th earls of Radnor. It
was started as part of the planned expansion of the town, prompted by the
increasing popularity of Folkestone as a holiday resort for wealthy visitors.
When commenced the church was on the edge of the town and surrounded by fields.
It is known that the congregation was considerably enlarged by visitors in the
summer months and the expensive fittings reflect the status and prosperity of
the congregation in the late 19th and early 20 centuries. The resulting building
is one of the finest works by its architect, Ewan Christian (1814-95), while the
vestries of 1913 and the SW porch 1927-8 are by G H Fellowes Prynne who had also
embellished the building with fixtures of the highest quality.
The architects: Ewan Christian (1814-95) was a prolific architect whose
speciality was church work. He was schooled at Christ's Hospital until 1829 when
he was articled to Matthew Habershon. He broadened his education with travel on
the continent in 1834 and the following year assisted one of the entrants in the
New Palace of Westminster competition with the drawings. He worked in the
offices of William Railton in London and then John Brown in Norwich. He
commenced practice in 1842 and was appointed architect to the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners in 1851, a post which brought many commisions, 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 quite routine
although his best churches, notably St Mark, Leicester, and Holy Trinity,
Folkestone, can stand comparison with the better churches of the C19.
Christian was a Low Churchman as were many of his clients. The churchmanship at
Holy Trinity is described as Broad Church and was thus in contrast to that at
other churches in Folkestone, notably St Peter's which was the scene of intense
ritual controversy in the 1870s. The wide, spacious nave, designed for
congregational worship, is in marked contrast to Anglo-Catholic churches of its
time. George Halford Fellowes Prynne (1853-1927) emigrated to Canada in 1871
where he became a pupil of Richard Windeyer (c1830-1900) of Toronto from 1872 to
1875 when he returned to England and became an improver in the office of G E
Street. He then worked with other architects until setting up in independent
practice in 1879. He established a good reputation as a church architect and was
diocesan architect for Oxford from 1913. Prynne was a devout Anglo-Catholic and
is a slightly surprising choice for work at Holy Trinity but he appears to have
enjoyed an association with the church for over twenty years."