Description

TM 47 NE, 2/16

BLYTHBURGH,
PRIORY ROAD

Holy Trinity Church

(Formerly listed as Church of the Holy Trinity)

07.12.66

GV

I

Parish Church. Nave and chancel (under one roof), north and south aisles, west
tower, south porch. Tower early-mid C14, remainder mid-late C15. Random flint
with stone dressings; some brickwork to window arches; lead roofs.

Tower: Four
stages, with 3-stage diagonal buttresses, string courses at each stage level;
crenellated parapet with some flushwork; single-light bell chamber openings
without tracery; at base of third stage (except east face) is a cinquefoil-headed
lancet window; C15 3-light west window, the tracery renewed. Clerestorey with
eighteen identical 2-light windows to north and south. Chancel extends one bay east
of the aisles, these windows being bricked up; east end of chancel with 5-light
window, renewed tracery; below is a flushwork frieze of twelve Lombardic letters,
with further flushwork to either side of window; at apex of gable is a
mutilated carved Trinity. North aisle of eight bays, south aisle of seven bays with
the porch at the west end; the eastern two bays of the aisles have windows to a
slightly different design; both aisles have flushwork decoration to the
buttresses. South aisle and porch with fine parapet of pierced quatrefoils
with ogee cappings, below which is a frieze of lozenge flushwork and a carved
string course; the buttresses have pinnacles with grotesque finials. Each
aisle has Priest's doorway under a flying buttress, the one to the south with a
mutilated stoup. Porch with Priest's room above; knapped flint facade with
empty niche over doorway; good external stoup with carved shaft and bowl;
tierceron vaulted roof renewed in 1930's. Both north and south doorways have
C15 traceried doors.

INTERIOR with 8-bay aisle arcades; flooring of red brick
and unglazed tile. Fine 10-bay arch-braced roof with firred tie beams; the
cornice is missing; at the centre of each tie beam is a carved boss and angels
with outstretched wings facing east and west (eleven angels remain, some of the
wings renewed); much original painted decoration remains. Lean-to aisle roofs
with traceried spandrels. Octagonal font, c.1450, formerly carved with the
Seven Sacraments. Good set of eighteen C15 nave benches with carved finials; C15
lectern; pulpit c.1670; fine alms box dated 1473 with traceried carving; mid-
late C17 Clock Jack at east end of south aisle; C15 wooden aisle screens, the
nave screen a modern reconstruction to the same pattern. The choir stalls have
finely carved frontals with sixteen figures of Apostles and Saints, possibly once
forming the rood loft parapet. Good monument to Sir John Hopton (d.1489):
Purbeck marble tomb chest (brasses missing) with 3 cusped quatrefoils with
painted shields, richly traceried and crested canopy. Another plain tomb chest
in north aisle; several C17 carved marble floor slabs in chancel; fragments of
medieval stained glass in aisle windows. Graded I for surviving medieval work.

Listing NGR: TM4507675315

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15224700

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)