Holy Trinity Church - South Street

No longer a church, Holy Trinity occupies a site, just inside the old South Gate, that has had an ecclesiastical presence since medieval times.

A church of St James was in existence near Holy Trinity in 1222. Hoskins surmises that it was absorbed into Holy Trinity at the time of the Black Death. Certainly by 1387 there was a reference to 'the waste place where the church of St James formerly stood'. In 1664, Trinity Green, just outside South Gate was consecrated, and the rest of Southernhay planted with 200 elms. The old Holy Trinity Church was demolished in 1819 when the South Gate was removed.

The present Holy Trinity was built in 1820 at a cost of £7,295. It was a time of extensive church building, and the new church was not constructed to a high standard to save money. The architect was Robert Cornish who produced a simple, gothic style with a castellated top that according to White's Devonshire Directory, in 1850 'has about 1000 sittings, of which nearly 100 are free'. The turret contains a clock and bell cast by Mears in 1820 especially for the church.

The interior consisted of a chancel, nave, aisles a west porch and a small western turret. The stained east window was a memorial to Richard Durant and his wife. In 1884, the church was reseated at a cost of £900, and a new pulpit and and prayer desk of carved oak were installed. The register dates from 1605 for the previous St James' Church and George's.

The church closed and was taken over by the White Ensign Club in 1977 as a meeting place and social club. There is a large model of the York Class HMS Exeter on display and other HMS Exeter memorabilia.

Source: White's 1850, Kelly's 1897.