Holy Trinity, Casterton
Holy Trinity, Casterton
Holy Trinity is a Grade II parish church in Casterton, Cumbria, in the Diocese of Carlisle and the Kirkby Lonsdale Team Ministry. It was founded by the Revd William Carus Wilson, who also founded the Clergy Daughters’ School attended by the Brontë sisters.
- Location
- Casterton, Cumbria
- Country
- England
- County
- Cumbria
- City / town
- Casterton
- Address
- Casterton, Cumbria, LA6 2SG
- Postcode
- LA6 2SG
- Built
- 1831–33; chancel c.1860
- Consecrated
- 5 October 1833
- Architect
- Crowther; chancel c.1860 by E G Paley
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Holy Trinity
- Diocese
- Carlisle
- Parish
- Kirkby Lonsdale
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Rock-faced limestone with ashlar dressings; chancel of rock-faced sandstone with ashlar dressings
- Grid reference
- SD 624 796
- Opening hours
- The church is open to visitors every day, usually from 10.30am to 5.30pm. A churchwarden will open up at other times, on request. Guidance notes and illustrated brochures explain its history and artworks and are free of charge.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England records a church of 1831–3 with a chancel of about 1860, attributing the work to Crowther. The parish site likewise names Crowther and records consecration as Casterton Chapel by the Bishop of Carlisle on 5 October 1833, on land given by Carus Wilson at Kiln-Haw, at a cost of about £750. Pevsner (Hyde and Pevsner) states that the original architect was almost certainly George Webster, with the larger chancel by E. G. Paley of Lancaster. Fabric is rock-faced limestone with ashlar dressings; the chancel is rock-faced sandstone. The plan is a six-bay nave with west tower, south porch and vestry, and a chancel with north organ loft. Lancet windows sit between weathered buttresses under a continuous hoodmould.
The nave has a scissor-truss roof. Wall paintings on canvas by J. Clarke date from about 1905–10. West windows and chancel glass and paintings are by Henry Holiday, 1894–7. The baptistry in the tower has glass by Shrigley and Hunt and an octagonal font on clustered shafts. Most chancel fittings are probably by Paley and Austin, including a traceried reredos. Memorials commemorate W. W. Carus Wilson (1851) and the Revd W. Carus Wilson (1859).