HOLY TRINITY CHURCH

Two places of worship existed in Easton in the early 14th century – a parish church of early Norman structure dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the priory church. However, the whereabouts of both these structures remains a mystery.

In 1328 the village population was devastated by the Black Death and those who remained were unable to maintain the parish church. The brethren agreed that surviving parishioners could henceforth worship in the priory church. The bishop agreed for St Mary’s to be demolished and its materials retained to enlarge the priory church. The villagers took with them important pieces of church furniture, including three bells, and the nave of the priory church was used by parishioners for the next two hundred years.

After the priory church was demolished in 1591, a new parish church was built by Edward Seymour in the Elizabethan style on its current site. The church was dedicated to the Holy Trinity, like the priory predecessor, and the last prior, Henry Bryan, crossed the road in more ways than one when he became the first protestant curate.

Holy Trinity church was built of flint, stone and rubble, much consisting of re-used ashlar, and designed to contain an undivided sanctuary and nave, a north porch and west tower. It seems to have been one of a small number of churches built in the Elizabethan era that did not contain a chancel. By 1806 the tower had been taken down and replaced with a bell turret built above the west bay of the nave.

The Seymours and subsequently Ailesburys, were responsible for maintaining Holy Trinity, appointing and paying the salaries of clergy until 1847 when the church became part of the Salisbury Diocese.

In 1852 an extensive modernisation in the Victorian style was carried out using funds provided by the Marquess of Ailesbury, Church Building Societies and the parishioners. Based on a design drawn up by Thomas Henry Wyatt, the Salisbury Diocese architect, the nave was extended westwards by one bay.

The bell turret was removed and the present south tower containing the vestry was added. The Elizabethan windows were replaced by gothic. Apart from the porch on the north side, the west door and certain parts of the walls, very little remains of the church as it was in 1591, although there are still pieces of a stone font that could date back to the sixteenth century.

The east facing stained glass window was installed by specialists Messrs Lavers and Barraud and depicts scenes from the Bible with a medical theme, as a memorial to David Herbert Llewellyn whose story is told elsewhere in this book.

The bells removed from the priory and hung in the church in 1591 were replaced by a tenor cast by John Wallis in 1607, a bell cast by John Danton in 1633 and a treble cast by Robert Wells in 1764. The treble was removed from the tower in 1984 as it was cracked and is kept in the church. The other two bells hung in the tower until 1995 when they were sent away to be melted down. The roof of the church is entirely covered in 19th century plain clay tiles and crested with clay ridge tiles.

In 1854 the churchyard was extended, but less than fifty years later a new piece of ground across the road, possibly the site of the former priory church, was declared open for burials by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese. No proper access was provided until 1960 when Sir Henry Bashford and Mr Leslie Cook took it upon themselves to build a path linking the cemetery to the road.

In 1951 a beautiful stone tablet was donated to the church by the Earl of Cardigan. Designed and carved by Mr Esmond Burton, the tablet is in memory of all the Esturmys and Seymours who had once been patrons of the priory.

In 1974 when Cadley church became redundant, the organ was offered to Easton Royal.  Mr Cook managed to raise £300 from villagers to have it installed at Holy Trinity and some years later major repairs were undertaken.

In his book ‘Wiltshire Harvest’, Sir Henry wrote: ‘Churchgoing as a custom has gradually diminished. Yet very few, even non-attendants, would like to see the churches not there. If any foreseeable government should propose to abolish them, villagers would rise as one man in a deep and angry protest.

Churches provide rights of way, seldom used perhaps except at the beginning and end of life but they are that, if nothing more, and as such should be defended against all comers. And of course, they are more.’

Buckler’s painting of the original Elizabethan church

Seymour tablet

East window

Church interior