Kendal: Holy Trinity

Name:
Kendal: Holy Trinity
Record Type:
Major Parish Church
Church code:
607217
Diocese:
Carlisle
Archdeaconry:
Westmorland & Furness
Parish:
Kendal (Holy Trinity)

Statutory Designation Information

Listed Building?
This is a Grade I Listed Building
View more information about this Listed Building on the National Heritage List for England web site
Scheduled Monument?
There is no Scheduled Monument within the curtilage or precinct

National Park

The church is not in a National Park

Conservation Area

The church is in the following Conservation Area: Kendal

Heritage At Risk Status

On Heritage At Risk Register?
This church is on the Heritage at Risk Register (data verified 14 Nov 2024)
View more information about this church on the Heritage at Risk website
 

Approximate Date

Approximate Date:
Medieval

Exterior Image

Exterior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal
Caption:
Exterior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal
Description:
Photograph of the exterior of Holy Trinity, Kendal
Year / Date:
2019, June 13
Copyright:
This image is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence.
Originator:
Richard Humphrey (of geograph.org.uk)

Summary Description

The Church is the oldest building in Kendal, indeed, in the valley of the river Kent. The site is even more ancient as evidenced by its 8/9 Century Anglo-Saxon cross shaft with vine scroll carving of the type found at Bewcastle, Heversham and Lowther. At the time of the Domesday Survey the settlement was Kirkbie Kendal, the church town of the Anglo-Saxon Kent dale. The market town on the adjoining hill was a later foundation. The modern town still exhibits this dual foundation with the Church and the Town Hall expressing in landmark buildings the spiritual and commercial cores of the settlement. The Church and its Tower are important landmarks on the approaches to the town centre from the south and south-east. Within Kirkland the views of the Church from its ornate West gate from the main thoroughfare and from the riverside footpath are particularly important. The views of the monumental east front from the east, across the River Kent from the town’s main circulation route, are a key feature in the character of the town and its central Conservation Area. The Church is a Grade 1 Listed Building and forms an important historic and architectural group with the adjoining associated Listed Buildings comprising Abbot Hall, the Parish Hall, the Ring of Bells PH in the corner of the churchyard and Nether Bridge, the medieval river crossing. The historic layout of this part of the Conservation Area curves around the ecclesiastical core buildings and their open spaces and is enclosed by the river, its tributary becks and the low hills rising from the river terrace. Externally the important views from Kirkland to the west are framed by classical pillars supporting exuberant, wrought iron gates dating from 1822. In the churchyard between the gates and west front are a stone sundial and an 1896 memorial to Archdeacon Cooper in the form of a copy of the Irton Cross. These external features are in the ownership of the District Council The earliest surviving parts of the building are nave pillars from the thirteenth century with a fifteenth century tower and further nave pillars of similar date. As the town grew with the development of the wool trade after the Scottish Wars of Independence additional aisles were added to the church in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. This has resulted in one of the widest parish churches in the country. The five aisles give an internal width of over 100ft/30 metres and the internal character is of a simple, light and airy square space divided by lines of stone pillars. By the mid nineteenth century the church was in a very poor structural condition and it was extensively restored with significant elements of re-building 1850-52. However the character of the perpendicular architecture and the spaces were retained. Twentieth century alterations of restoring the Parr and Bellingham Chapels and bringing forward the main altar have introduced good quality work by local Arts and Crafts workers. There are early monuments in the Bellingham, Strickland and Parr Chapels, the latter being the chapel of the family of Katherine Parr, last wife of Henry VIII. There are a wealth of eighteenth and nineteenth century wall monuments including one to George Romney and some 20 designed by the highly regarded local architect Webster. There is Victorian stained glass and a modern sculpture by Josefina de Vasconcellos of the Family of Man.

Visiting and Facilities

The church is open for worship.
Work in progress - can you help?
 

Church Website

Church Website:
http://www.kendalparishchurch.co.uk

Sources and Further Information

John Salmon (of geograph.org.uk) (2008, August 14) Interior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal. [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Interior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal.
Richard Humphrey (of geograph.org.uk) (2019, June 13) Exterior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Exterior image of 607217 Holy Trinity, Kendal
Church of England (2021) A Church Near You https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/12374/ [Digital Archive/Index]
View information on worship and access at this church
Church Buildings Council (2019) Church Bells 11 Bells [Archive/Index]
11 Bells