1878 – Church of the Holy Trinity, Privett, Hampshire

Architect: Arthur W. Blomfield

In 1863, William Nicholson of the firm of J&W Nicholson & Co, gin distillers, bought the nearby estate of Basing Park. Many of the buildings in Privett were built by him for workers on his estate, and the Church of the Holy Trinity was also built at his expense between 1876 and 1878. The size of the new church far outstripped the requirements of the small rural parish, and it eventually became redundant in the 1970’s. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the church as “exceptionally good” and like “a substantial town church”.

The church, in Gothic Revival of flint with Bath Stone dressings. The chancel has north and south chapels or transepts, while the nave has four bays with aisles and clerestory, and a porch to the north. The tower, with broach spire, gargoyles, buttresses and three tiers of lucarnes, is 160 feet (48.8 m) high and forms a prominent landmark. The nave has four-bay arcades, a lofty tower arch, a square font on pillars with stiff-leaf carving, a round stone pulpit and an intricate wrought iron lectern. The chancel is sumptuously appointed with a mosaic floor, sedilia and reredos with arcading. It is now under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Illustration published in The Building News, July 12th 1878.