Holy Trinity Church, Bickerton

Holy Trinity Church, Bickerton
Holy Trinity Church, Bickerton, from the southeast
Holy Trinity Church, Bickerton Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°04′37″N 2°43′58″W / 53.0769°N 2.7327°W
OS grid reference	SJ 510,535
Location	Bickerton, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Holy Trinity, Bickerton
History
Dedication	Trinity
Consecrated	7 January 1840
Associated people	Philip Grey Egerton
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	12 January 1967
Architect(s)	Edmund Sharpe
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1839
Completed	1911
Construction cost	£700 (£56,000 in 2015)[1]
Specifications
Materials	Red sandstone, slate roof
Administration
Parish	Holy Trinity, Bickerton
Deanery	Malpas
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Ian Arthan Davenport

Holy Trinity Church stands to the north of the village of Bickerton, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.^[2] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with those of St Wenefrede, Bickley, St John, Burwardsley and All Saints, Harthill.^[3]

History

The church was built as a chapel of ease to St Oswald's Church, Malpas in 1839 and was designed by the Lancaster architect Edmund Sharpe.^[2] The land for the church was given by Philip Grey Egerton. Public subscription raised £2,000. £700 of this (equivalent to £56,000 in 2015)^[1] was used to build the church, £300 was used for a minister's house, and the rest was invested to provide a stipend for the minister.^[4] A grant of £120 was provided by the Incorporated Church Building Society. The church provided 268 seats.^[5] It was consecrated by John Sumner, Bishop of Chester, on 7 January 1840.^[4] Holy Trinity became a separate parish church in 1869.^[2] A chancel was added in 1875–76 and a baptistry in 1911.^[6]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red sandstone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a three-bay nave, a single-bay chancel and a small octagonal west baptistry. The vestry projection to the north and the organ chamber to the south give the church a cruciform plan. The baptistry has a pyramidal roof.^[2]

Interior

The reredos is made of panelled oak. Also in oak are the pulpit, the organ case and the lectern. The octagonal font is in stone. On the nave walls are memorials in alabaster to former vicars of the church.^[2] The stained glass in the baptistry is by Kempe and is dated around 1904; there is another window by Kempe on the south side of the church. There are also two windows dating from about 1940 by Trena Cox.^[6] The two-manual organ was built by P. Conacher and Company of Huddersfield.^[7]

See also

• Listed buildings in Bickerton
• List of architectural works by Edmund Sharpe

References

1. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
2. Historic England, "Church of the Holy Trinity, Bickerton (1138611)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 29 March 2012
3. Holy Trinity, Bickerton, Church of England, retrieved 29 September 2009
4. Hughes, John M. (2010), Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes, p. 134
5. Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, p. 211, ISBN 978-1-84802-049-8
6. Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 139, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
7. Bickerton Holy Trinity, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 13 August 2008