Holy Trinity Church, Ventnor, Isle of Wight
Holy Trinity, Trinity Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 1NS
Holy Trinity, Ventnor, is a graceful mid-Victorian Gothic church and one of the most architecturally distinguished places of worship on the Isle of Wight. The church was erected at the expense of three sisters — Agnes Percy, Ellen Thompson and Louisa Julia Percy — with the foundation stone laid on 12 April 1860 and the building consecrated on 2 August 1862. It was designed by Charles Edward Giles of Taunton and London, a predominantly ecclesiastical architect, and was built of local stone to accommodate 567 worshippers, with 210 places reserved free for the poor in perpetuity. The building comprises a nave, north and south aisles with clerestories, chancel, north and south transepts, vestry and an impressive north-west tower with a slender spire — one of the tallest on the island — covered in cedar-wood shingles and rising to 155 feet to the weathercock. The first vicar, the Rev Arthur Lewis Babington Peile, served from 1862 to 1884 and was also Honorary Chaplain to Queen Victoria at Osborne House. The church is lit throughout by beautiful Victorian stained glass from the workshops of Clayton and Bell, and houses a fine pipe organ originally built by Forster and Andrews in 1865, subsequently rebuilt and enlarged in 1908. The church was founded during the period of the Oxford Movement and has maintained an Anglo-Catholic tradition with music and choral worship playing a central role in its life.
Timings
- Friday 11 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00
- Saturday 12 September:
- 09:00 to 18:00 - with refreshments available for participants in the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Ride + Stride
- Sunday 13 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00 (Healing Eucharist at 17:00)
- Monday 14 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00
- Tuesday 15 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00
- Wednesday 16 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00
- Thursday 17 September:
- 09:00 to 15:00 (BCP Holy Communion at 10:00 followed by Brunch in the Church Hall)
- Friday 18 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00
- Saturday 19 September:
- 10:00 to 16:00: Displays of local and church historical interest and talks from members. Choir practice at 10:00 - stay and listen! + Refreshments. 19.00 Concert by the Scottish Fiddlers
- Sunday 20 September:
- 09:30 Choral Eucharist (followed by refreshments)
Location & directions
Holy Trinity, Trinity Road, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 1NS
- Directions:
- Just on the outskirts of the town heading towards Bonchurch
- Contact on day:
- Duncan Williams - Organist and Churchwarden (by text please on 07483 838482)
- Telephone number:
- +447483838482
Booking information
- Pre-booking requirement:
- Pre-booking not required
Accessibility details
Wheelchair ramp available, toilets in church hall, limited parking in church car park, overflow parking in St Wilfrid's car park (100 yards further down Trinity Road, heading into town, on right)
Additional information
The interior includes oak stalls with carved ends, a richly carved Caen stone pulpit supported on marble shafts, an alabaster font on clustered shafts, and an alabaster and marble reredos decorated with Eucharistic imagery including vine, wheat, passion-flower and lily motifs. The stonework combines local stone with dressed sandstone ashlar, Bath stone arcades and Mansfield stone shafts with carved capitals, giving the building much of its refined Victorian Gothic character.
