Holy Trinity Church
In March 1868, a letter appeared in the Leicester Mail commenting upon how the church of All Saints was never full to capacity during either the morning or evening services, and that Emmanuel church was not full during the only time when it was open, which was during the morning. The letter-writer was therefore questioning why a need had been identified for a new church to be built in Loughborough.
This need had been articulated in a report in the Leicester Chronicle in 1865, which suggested that the Church Extension Society was contemplating building a new church in Loughborough, at an outlay of £6,000 and with an endowment of £300 per annum. Apparently, a site had not yet been determined upon.
The date of
that newspaper article was 1st April 1865, but this was certainly no April Fool’s
Day joke. The laying of the foundation stone for what was to become the Holy
Trinity Church, on Moor Lane took place 12 years later, on Tuesday 20th November
1877. Lord John Manners laid the stone, and the service on the site was
conducted by the Lord Bishop of Peterborough, William Connor Magee – a busy
week for the Bishops who also consecrated St Lawrence church in Northampton. The
procession to the new Holy Trinity church left from the nearby Warner School on
Pinfold Gate at 12.30pm and luncheon was served at the Bull’s Head Hotel on
High Street – to those who had paid in advance.
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| Holy Trinity Church |
The new
church was designed by William Arthur Blomfield who, as we know from last
week’s blogpost about the Reverend Eddowes at Jackfield, was responsible
for designing the new church at Jackfield, and also for the renovations at St
Mary’s church in Sileby. The cost of building the Holy Trinity church was
expected to be just over £4,500, and would be constructed by Mr Clipsham, the
builder from Newark, the fabric of the building being made from Mountsorrel
stone with Bath stone dressings. The internal height would be 24 feet, and from
the eaves to the roof would be another 24 feet. There would also be a turret of
84 feet, the west side of the church would be 186 feet and the north and south
sides 60 feet.
The church was to be positioned on land given by Mr Edward Warner and the committee responsible for organising the contributions to the endowment included Dr John Henry Eddowes, grandfather to Arthur Eddowes, who had just been born, and who would later become vicar of Jackfield.
The consecration of the church took place on Tuesday 8th October 1878, the event taking place at 11.30 in the morning and being delivered by the Lord Bishop of Peterborough. The procession again started from Warner School, at 11am, and lunch was provided in the Victoria Rooms in the Town Hall – to those who had paid in advance. The evening service took place at 7pm, and the sermon was preached by the Reverend Leonard Leader Cooper, MA, the Vicar of Raunds, who had recently left his position as Chaplain to the Board of Guardians in Loughborough, and who would shortly move to become the vicar of St John The Divine church, in Leicester.
Once the new church building was consecrated and completed, in December 1878 the incumbency of Holy Trinity church was confirmed as being conferred upon the Reverend Edward Bell, who had been born 30 years earlier in Ireland, son of Daniel, a clerk in holy orders. On August 12th 1879, Reverend Edward Bell married Sarah Elizabeth Noble. Sarah had been born in Loughborough, also in 1848, and was the daughter of Frederic Collins Noble, a surgeon of the town. The marriage ceremony took place at St John’s church in Ealing, the Right Reverend the Bishop of Travancore and Cochin presiding.
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| Holy Trinity Church |
By the time of the 1881 census, Edward and Sarah were living at 17 Leicester Road, which is the rectory associated with the Holy Trinity church, now an exclusive, boutique guest house, although now numbered 68a. [On re-reading this in 2025, it is very unlikely that No.17 Leicester Road became No.68A!. No.17 is likely to have been situated on the corner of Leicester Road and Southfield Road, as the architectural practice of Allcock and Grieves is at No.11. Furthermore, 68A wasn't built until 1883, but did become the vicarage to Holy Trinity. It is now a beautifully restored B&B and winner of Channel 4's Four in a Bed.]
Edward and Sarah's daughter, Mary Winifred Bell had been born 3 months before the census was taken, and the family were supported by three servants, Elizabeth Ann Marston (?) the 29-year old domestic cook born in Thrussington, Martha Sharratt the 18-year old nurse, and Eliza Alice Barman (?) the 16-year old housemaid, both born in Manchester. A further daughter for Edward and Sarah, Kathleen Margaret, arrived in 1885.
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| The former Rectory to Holy Trinity Church |
The 1891
census records the family still living and working in Loughborough, but in
September 1892, Reverend Edward Bell moved to St Stephens in Saltash to become
the vicar there, replacing the Reverend William Fraser who was moving from
Saltash to - would you believe - Loughborough. When Reverend Fraser moved away
from Loughborough’s Holy Trinity church, he was followed by Reverend Samuel
Wathen Wigg, and the Reverend David Dewar.
There are many more stories to tell about the church of Holy Trinity in Loughborough, and of the resident vicars, but these must wait for another day. Suffice to say that the church ceased operation as a church in 1996, and the name passed to the All Saints church, now referred to as All Saints with Holy Trinity. The former church is now a school and the church hall home to Affixxus Films.
Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 14 February 2021
You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:
Lynne
