Holy Trinity Church, Westbury on Trym
Encyclopedia
Holy Trinity Church is a Church of England
parish church
in Westbury on Trym
, Bristol
, England.
The first church on the site was established in the 8th century. In the 10th century a Benedictine
priory
was founded. Construction of the present building began in the early 13th century and it has been rebuilt several times since. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a grade I listed building.
From the late 12th century to the middle of the 16th century it was the collegiate church
for Westbury College; of the latter, little more than the college gatehouse
remains. The church contains the tomb of John Carpenter
, Bishop of Worcester
, who had planned to make it a joint cathedral
for the Worcester diocese
.
and Bredon
. Nevertheless a church did exist by the end of the 8th century, as King Offa
founded a minster on the site between 793 and 796.
The minster became a Benedictine priory around 963–64. It was the first reformation of a minster by Bishop Oswald of Worcester
, in his introduction of the Rule of Saint Benedict into the diocese. He brought the English monk Germanus from Fleury Abbey
as the new Prior
. However Oswald soon decided to move the community to Ramsey
, after he acquired land in 966 for the foundation of Ramsey Abbey
. The priory buildings eventually fell into disrepair. Around 1093 Bishop Wulfstan reacquired the dilapidated priory and rebuilt it as a monastery under the control of the Worcester diocese.
alternated in possession of the monastery; this was finally resolved in favour of the secular priests when the church become collegiate around 1194. The canon
s of Westbury College were each supported by revenues from one of the areas around Westbury on Trym, including Aust
, Henbury
and Lawrence Weston
.
The great reformist John Wycliffe
was a canon from 1362 until his death in 1384, although in 1367 he was accused of neglecting his duties as prebendary
of Aust due to his long absence. The prominent Bristol merchant William Canynge
was dean of the college from 1469 until his death in 1474.
In 1544, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries
, the church became a parish church within the new Bristol diocese
, and the residential buildings of Westbury College passed into the hands of Sir Ralph Sadler
.
and aisle
s are early 13th century, in the Early English style. The remainder of the church is in the Perpendicular style.
The nave clerestory
, chancel
, choir and north chapel
are the result of extensive rebuilding by Bishop Carpenter in the middle of the 15th century. The chancel has a polygonal apse
, which is rare for the late Gothic period. The church tower, although also from this period, was restored
in the middle of the 19th century. The reredos
, which depicts the Last Supper
, is also 19th century.
. On his death in 1476 he was buried in the crypt underneath the altar. The stone cadaver from his cadaver tomb
is in the chancel, with a Purbeck marble
canopy donated in 1853 by Oriel College, Oxford, where he had been Provost
.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
in Westbury on Trym
Westbury on Trym
Westbury-on-Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. Westbury-on-Trym has a village atmosphere. The place is partly named after the River Trym that flows...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England.
The first church on the site was established in the 8th century. In the 10th century a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
was founded. Construction of the present building began in the early 13th century and it has been rebuilt several times since. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a grade I listed building.
From the late 12th century to the middle of the 16th century it was the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
for Westbury College; of the latter, little more than the college gatehouse
Westbury College Gatehouse
Westbury College Gatehouse is a 15th-century gatehouse to the 13th-century College of Priests located in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England, and now a National Trust property. It is a grade I listed building.- History :...
remains. The church contains the tomb of John Carpenter
John Carpenter (bishop)
John Carpenter was an English Bishop, Provost and University Chancellor.-Early life:Bishop Carpenter's father was John Carpenter the elder, born c. 1362 to Richard or Renaud Carpenter of Cambrai and his wife Christina of London. John Carpenter the bishop was also known as John Carpenter the elder....
, Bishop of Worcester
Bishop of Worcester
The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. He is the head of the Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury...
, who had planned to make it a joint cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
for the Worcester diocese
Anglican Diocese of Worcester
The Diocese of Worcester forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.The diocese was founded in around 679 by St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the many Anglo Saxon petty-kingdoms of that time...
.
Early years
The date the first church was founded has traditionally been put at 716–17; the historical record does show two foundations at this date, but these were actually at YateYate
Yate is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, at the southwest extremity of the Cotswold Hills, 12 miles northeast of the city of Bristol. At the 2001 census the population was 21,789. The town of Chipping Sodbury is continuous with Yate to the east...
and Bredon
Bredon
Bredon is a large village and civil parish in Wychavon District at the southern edge of Worcestershire in England. It lies on the banks of the River Avon on the lower slopes of Bredon Hill, at “the beginning of the Cotswolds”...
. Nevertheless a church did exist by the end of the 8th century, as King Offa
Offa of Mercia
Offa was the King of Mercia from 757 until his death in July 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald after defeating the other claimant Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign it is likely...
founded a minster on the site between 793 and 796.
The minster became a Benedictine priory around 963–64. It was the first reformation of a minster by Bishop Oswald of Worcester
Oswald of Worcester
Oswald of Worcester was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. He was of Danish ancestry, but brought up by his uncle, Oda, who sent him to France to the abbey of Fleury to become a monk. After a number of years at Fleury, Oswald returned to England at the request of his uncle, who died...
, in his introduction of the Rule of Saint Benedict into the diocese. He brought the English monk Germanus from Fleury Abbey
Fleury Abbey
Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret, France, founded about 640, is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, which posseses the relics of St. Benedict of Nursia. Its site on the banks of the Loire has always made it easily accessible from Orléans, a center of...
as the new Prior
Prior
Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
. However Oswald soon decided to move the community to Ramsey
Ramsey, Cambridgeshire
Ramsey is a small Cambridgeshire market town and parish, north of Huntingdon and St Ives. For local government purposes it lies in the district of Huntingdonshire within the local government county of Cambridgeshire....
, after he acquired land in 966 for the foundation of Ramsey Abbey
Ramsey Abbey
Ramsey Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey located in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, England, southeast of Peterborough and north of Huntingdon, UK.-History:...
. The priory buildings eventually fell into disrepair. Around 1093 Bishop Wulfstan reacquired the dilapidated priory and rebuilt it as a monastery under the control of the Worcester diocese.
Collegiate church
Over the next century, there were successive evictions as monks and secular priestsSecular clergy
The term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or members of a religious order.-Catholic Church:In the Catholic Church, the secular clergy are ministers, such as deacons and priests, who do not belong to a religious order...
alternated in possession of the monastery; this was finally resolved in favour of the secular priests when the church become collegiate around 1194. The canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
s of Westbury College were each supported by revenues from one of the areas around Westbury on Trym, including Aust
Aust
Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, the historical site of the eastern terminal of the Aust Ferry crossing route over the River Severn between England and Wales, believed to have been used in Roman times as a continuation of Icknield Street which led from Eastern England...
, Henbury
Henbury
Henbury is a suburb of Bristol, England, approximately 5 mi northwest of the city centre. It was formerly a village in Gloucestershire and is now bordered by Westbury-on-Trym to the south; Brentry to the east and the Blaise Castle estate Blaise Hamlet and Lawrence Weston to the west...
and Lawrence Weston
Lawrence Weston, Bristol
Lawrence Weston is a post war housing estate in north west Bristol between Henbury and Shirehampton.The estate is bounded in the east by the Blaise Castle estate and woods. It is situated at the edge of the Severn flood plain, directly beneath the wooded Kingsweston Hill. The industrial complex...
.
The great reformist John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe
John Wycliffe was an English Scholastic philosopher, theologian, lay preacher, translator, reformer and university teacher who was known as an early dissident in the Roman Catholic Church during the 14th century. His followers were known as Lollards, a somewhat rebellious movement, which preached...
was a canon from 1362 until his death in 1384, although in 1367 he was accused of neglecting his duties as prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Aust due to his long absence. The prominent Bristol merchant William Canynge
William Canynge
William II Canynges was an English merchant and shipper from Bristol, one of the wealthiest private citizens of his day and an occasional royal financier. He served as Mayor of Bristol five times and as MP for Bristol thrice...
was dean of the college from 1469 until his death in 1474.
In 1544, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, the church became a parish church within the new Bristol diocese
Diocese of Bristol
The Diocese of Bristol is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. It is based in the city of Bristol and covers South Gloucestershire and parts of north Wiltshire to Swindon...
, and the residential buildings of Westbury College passed into the hands of Sir Ralph Sadler
Ralph Sadler
Sir Ralph Sadler, PC, Knight banneret was an English statesman of the 16th century, and served as a Secretary of State for King Henry VIII.-Background:...
.
Architecture
The present building all dates to after 1194. The naveNave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s are early 13th century, in the Early English style. The remainder of the church is in the Perpendicular style.
The nave clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
, chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
, choir and north chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
are the result of extensive rebuilding by Bishop Carpenter in the middle of the 15th century. The chancel has a polygonal apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
, which is rare for the late Gothic period. The church tower, although also from this period, was restored
Victorian restoration
Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...
in the middle of the 19th century. The reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
, which depicts the Last Supper
Last Supper
The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...
, is also 19th century.
Memorials
Although Bishop Carpenter's plan to make the church a joint cathedral with Worcester did not come to fruition, it was he who rededicated the church to the Holy TrinityTrinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
. On his death in 1476 he was buried in the crypt underneath the altar. The stone cadaver from his cadaver tomb
Cadaver tomb
A cadaver tomb or transi is a church monument or tomb featuring an effigy in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse. The topos was particularly characteristic of the later Middle Ages....
is in the chancel, with a Purbeck marble
Purbeck Marble
Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone quarried in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England.It is one of many kinds of Purbeck Limestone, deposited in the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous periods....
canopy donated in 1853 by Oriel College, Oxford, where he had been Provost
Provost (education)
A provost is the senior academic administrator at many institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and Australia, the equivalent of a pro-vice-chancellor at some institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland....
.