Church Heritage Record 626075

4-bay aisled nave. Chancel with north organ chamber and vestry. Bell-cote over chancel arch.

Within 500m of the site is the old church of St Theobald, to the north-west of the present church, which is listed Grade II* and designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The ruined church is possibly of Saxon origin, though the nave has been dated to the C11th, tower C12th and aisles C13th and C15th. It has a round tower. Its chancel remains roofed. A short distance to the west is the probable site of Hautbois Castle, built 1312. Neolithic finds, the site of an Iron Age or Roman inhumation, lime and brick kilns, and WWII pillboxes are also identified by the Norfolk HER located within a 500m radius of the site. Archaeological potential of the site is low, this being the first known building on the plot and there being no burials.

A settlement is thought to have been founded at Great Hautbois by the Saxons who probably built a timber church on the site which the now ruined church occupies. A village is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. The church was rebuilt in the C13th. It was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages on account of an image it held of St Theobald. Following the dissolution of the monasteries the church fell into decline, the patronage having been with the priory at Coxord, and also the village.

Holy Trinity was designed in 1862 for the Rev John Girling by Norwich-based architect Thomas Jeckyll (1827-81) to replace St Theobalds’ on a different nearby site. It was originally proposed to restore the old church. Some items were instead relocated. It was built on a limited budget of £1000 and when it was consecrated in 1864 it had no pulpit, altar or lectern. The church was decorated internally by John Huggins in 1865. Jeckyll became known for an Anglo-Japanese style and designed metalwork as well as private architectural commissions and church restorations. He only designed and built two Anglican church buildings. He was active in East Anglia and started out working in a Gothic Revival style. Involved in the Aesthetic Movement, a reaction to the Gothic Revival, and influence by Japanese design. The bellcote on the church is the only element that can be considered to suggest a Japanese style. Jeckyll was an acquaintance of Whistler.

A plaque in the church records its restoration in 1962 in memory of John Patteson.

Discreetly positioned behind trees and with no tower, the church is easily missed. It was built in the Early English style with lean-to aisles and lancet windows. It has steep roofs; the chancel roof is lower. Walls are constructed in knapped flint with dressed stone surrounds and pronounced stone copings.  A chimney projects in the north-west corner, and a timber bell-turret sits at the apex of the east end nave gable. This is considered to illustrate the influence of Japanese design on Jeckyll’s work. An organ chamber abuts the east end of the north aisle and north wall of the chancel.

The east elevation has three lancets, the west elevation has three lancets with a sexfoil window above, and lancets in the west end of the aisle walls. The chancel has additional lancets – 2 in the south wall, either side of a small priest’s door, and 1 in the north. Windows are protected by metal grills.

Doors are positioned in the westernmost bays of the north and south aisles (that to the north is false) and are framed with hoodmoulds and stops. Angle buttresses. Cast-iron downpipes.

Access to the church by the congregation is through the south door which immediately enters the south aisle (i.e. no porch or lobby). The interior is quite dark with limited natural light filtering in from small lancet windows – those that don’t contain stained glass have diamond leaded panes of cathedral glass. Very high nave walls which seem, from the inside, as though they could accommodate a clerestory level.

Seating is provided by fixed pine benches on level boarded floors with yellow, black and red quarry tiles laid in the aisles with carpet along the centre aisle. Aisles are separated by arcades with circular piers and capitals.

A brick chimney in the north-west corner and also a cart (from Coltishall church). The font is at the west end of south aisle and altar at the east end. Suspended brass lanterns, presumably original (some variance suggests replacements), have been adapted to electricity but remain in the arcades. The nave is ceiled by a boarded barrel vault, aisles are lean-to.

The chancel is raised by a step and accessed through a high chancel arch. The roof is similar but more ornate than the nave with a lattice pattern. The north organ chamber can also be accessed from the east end of the north aisle, though this area is used for storage. The chancel has choir stalls to north and south sides. The sanctuary is raised by 3 steps and the east wall is curtained. A door to the north side leads into the vestry, and there is a south priest’s door.