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 Holy Trinity Church - Prince Consort Road, London, UK
N 51° 29.990 W 000° 10.729
30U E 695809 N 5709184
This Anglican church, built in 1901, stands on the north side of Prince Consort Road and to the south west of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington.
Waymark Code: WMHR26
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/07/2013
Views: 3
An information board at the front of the church tells us:
Holy Trinity Church
Prince Consort Road
Originally the chapel of a leper hospital
was rebuilt in 1609 and was known as
Knightsbridge Chapel.
This was replaced in 1901 by the present
Parish Church, Henry Bartholomew Coward
being the first vicar
& George Frederick Bodley the architect
The
church's website tells us:
Early History
Holy Trinity began its history as a chapel on Knightsbridge Green, attached
to a leper hospital founded by Westminster Abbey, who to this day are
patrons of the Parish. In 1629 the chapel had become so dilapidated that a
petition was made to Archbishop Laud, when he was Bishop of London, for
permission to rebuild.. It was granted and a new building arose on part of
the land currently occupied by the Parkside block of flats, just west of
Hyde Park Corner. Laud gave a silver Communion Chalice, still owned by our
church, but now displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum .
The chapel was rebuilt again in 1699, and renovated in 1789. A new church,
Holy Trinity Knightsbridge, was erected on its site in 1861. A photo of its
street frontage survives (scan coming soon). In 1901, it was demolished and
transferred from its site in Knightsbridge to Prince Consort Road , where a
new church and vicarage were erected to the designs of G F Bodley and C G
Hare.
Holy Trinity was a late addition to the churches of Kensington. In 1842,
there were only three churches in the area of South Kensington : St Mary
Abbots, Holy Trinity in Brompton Road , and St Barnabas, Addison Road . In
the next 35 years, fourteen new parishes were established, the design and
building of which involved many of the best Victorian ecclesiastical
architects of the day. By the 1870s, most of these were completed. The move
of Holy Trinity to Prince Consort Road took place in 1901 where a site was
found to the south west of the Albert Hall, at that time just in Kensington,
and the new church was planned as Holy Trinity Church, South Kensington. It
still carries this title even though by 1901 the land had been ceded to
Westminster in exchange for Kensington Palace , which at Queen Victoria 's
behest had been moved from Westminster to Kensington.
What is special about this
building?
Commissioning a church from the Bodley architectural practice often meant
that you were going to get a church built in the 14 th century late
perpendicular style. Holy Trinity is no exception. It shows in the exterior
facade, which is in this style and is said to bear a close similarity to the
west front of Bury St Edmund's Cathedral.
But it is the interior that is outstanding, perhaps one of the finest
examples of Bodley's work. The loftiness of its interior and the lavish
fixtures and fittings almost transport one back to the decorative condition
of churches before the Reformation. �The tall slender piers of the nave
and the wagon roof of the nave and chancel remind one of the great
Perpendicular churches of the west country. Absolutely nothing is wanting,
from the chequered marble floor to the statues filling the niches flanking
the great east window.�
The interior is a showpiece of the very best ecclesiastical fixtures and
fittings of the Edwardian era. All the major decoration in the church,
including the reredos, the altar, the choir stalls, the stained glass, the
pulpit, and the font are all designed by Bodley and created very closely to
his original plans. After the death of Bodley in 1907, the work was
supervised by C G Hare, his partner, who was also responsible for the design
of the organ casing. Here then is a building of great wealth and most
unusually for most town churches of that date, of great completeness.
Even in its 14 th century Perpendicular style, at the same time it conveys
an aura of the comfortable, wealthy, and confident years of the reign of
Edward VII, with its pride in Britain and the Empire. It is a beautiful
church, which is at the same time both a Gothic church and a church of its
time.
The church is a Grade I listed building
with the entry at the
English Heritage website telling us:
Church. 1901 to 1907. G F Bodley.
Bath stone. Pitched slate roof to parapet. Decorated Perpendicular style.
Five bay nave, leanto aisles with additional four-bay aisle to liturgical
north side; chancel with Lady Chapel to north; bell turret to western gable.
Hall church interior with tall arcades having quatrefoil piers; barrel roof;
no clerestory. East window of seven lights with reticulated tracery, and
stained glass designed by Bodley and made by Burlison and Grylls in 1907.
Fine interior fittings including altar, pulpit, chancel stalls, reredos,
font, stained glass, etc, much designed by Bodley himself.
The
church's website tells us about service times and opening times:
Holy Trinity is just to the SW of
the Royal Albert Hall. Sunday 11 a.m. Services use the BCP (Book of Common
Prayer) of 1662 and the King James Bible.
Visitors enjoy coming to the convivial sit-down lunches, on the 2nd Sunday
of each month. Others prefer to find a corner of the spacious building for
some quiet contemplation, or just to briefly walk around, light a candle and
sign the visitor's book during the Wednesday opening time.
Weekday opening: Wednesday 1pm - 5pm, Sunday 9.30am - 12.45 Particular
opening times (morning & evening) are easily arranged: Call 0207 581 3493
Weekday Holy Communion: Wednesdays at 1.10 p.m.
Active Church: Yes
School on property: No
Date Built: 01/01/1901
Service Times: See the detailed description
Website: [Web Link]
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the Church. Please try to keep your GPSr out of the photo.
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