Re-gilded Clock Face to be Re-installed at Holy Trinity Church

Published on: 4 Mar, 2016
Updated on: 4 Mar, 2016

Gloss black with re-gilded numerals, the Holy Trinity clock face is ready for remounting next Tuesday (February 8)

Another important, and very visible, step in the restoration of Guildford’s premier church, Holy Trinity, at the top of the High Street, will be completed next Tuesday (February 8) with the re-installation of the church tower clock face.

The Onslow arms seen here were in real need of refurbishment…

Together with other ornamentation, the clock face has been re-gilded, all part of a £500,000 refurbishment project partly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and other grants. Holy Trinity has still to raise more money for completion.

…but soon they will be a dazzling sight the top end of the High Street. Here the re-gilded crown that will top the Onslow arms is shown off by Ken Fuller, caretaker at Holy Trinity.

The Big Appeal was launched in mid-October last year (2015) when the congregation were invited to contribute.

The critical need for repair work became apparent when the ceiling over the organ collapsed in early 2014 but it was just one sign of a much wider problem; Holy Trinity was long overdue for some “TLC”.

This photo shows how necessary the repair work had become.

For over 100 years, the roof valley gutters and down pipes had been overflowing whenever there was heavy rain, causing water to flow down both the outside and inside of the walls. The eventual collapse of the ceiling was inevitable.

A number of over-lapping projects have taken place during the last 12 months.

By the end of March 2016 it is expected that the church will have:

1. repaired the roof gullies, roof hoppers and down pipes;

2. replaced and repaired both Bath and Portland stonework on the parapet walls,

pediments and chimney;

3. replaced the slate roof over the apsidal east end;

4. replaced the tiled roof on the tower;

5. cleaned down and re-pointed, with lime and mortar mix, much of the brickwork,

especially on the upper walls;

6. replaced windows, especially on the southwest end, and in the tower;

7. repaired the gold gilt on the tower wind vane;

8. repaired the internal door and ceiling roof access, and external doors onto the parapets

9. repainted the doors at the west end;

10. repaired the drain on the south side and replaced the floor in the clergy vestry;

11. rebuilt the drain outside the choir vestry and replaced the carpet;

12. repaired and restored the gilt paint to the face and the Onslow crest of the tower clock;

Holy Trinity church tower made ready for the clock’s re-installation next Tuesday.

13. repaired and replaced the flat roofs to the choir vestry, boiler house, oil tank house and organ blower house on the south side;

14. rebuilt the ceiling over the organ and completely cleaned out all the pipes and re-tuned the organ;

15. totally repainted (except the east end and apsidal painting) the whole nave, Queen’s

Regiment Chapel, stairway and balcony;

16. redecorated the two tower youth rooms;

17. arranged for Guildford Borough Council to repair the wall onto the High Street and drain system in the northwest corner of the churchyard;

18.Guildford Borough Council have also replaced all the churchyard path lights with LED fittings and bulbs.

After Easter 2016 the next phase of the restoration project will be commenced.

Historical notes: Nearly all of the original medieval church, that probably had Saxon origins was destroyed when the church tower collapsed in 1740, while, ironically, the church was being repaired.

The original church is believed to have had a clock tower from the 1500s but this may have been simply a bell tower that chimed on the hour.

The family arms of the Onslow family are displayed on the church because not only were they the leading aristocratic family in Guildford but they were also benefactors of the church.

A school, “the Bluecoat School” was located in the church tower rooms from 1761.

The only remaining part of the original church is the Weston Chapel. The Weston family of Sutton Place were Roman Catholics, so, unusually, the Anglican Holy Trinity church had a Roman Catholic chapel attached. It remained so until 2005.

Holy Trinity church is regarded as one of the fines examples of church architecture in Southern England.