Holy Trinity Church, Besthorpe

Holy Trinity Church was built in 1844 to replace an old Chapel of Ease built circa 1535, for St Helena’s Church, South Scarle and which fell into ruins in 1760.  In 1984 Holy Trinity became part of the combined parish of South Scarle, Girton and Besthorpe and subsequently part of the East Trent Group. It is a Grade 11 listed brick and stone building.   It is unusual as it is aligned North to South  with an apse at the South end and a bell tower at the   North.    There used to be a Quaker meeting room in the Village but when, in 1986, the Methodist Chapel closed,  Holy Trinity was left  as the only building for Christian worship. 

 The church building, in its location at the centre of the village on the green is very important as a focus in the village. With the closure of the school in 2009, the Church and small Village Hall ( which used to be the old village school),  next to it are the only public buildings left in the Village.  The congregation is small, but hardworking and determined to ensure that Holy Trinity remains a viable church.  This has been helped greatly by the continuing increase in numbers of worshippers coming from other Churches in the East Trent Group to join our services.

Besthorpe is a small but thriving community, it does not have a shop but does have the Lord Nelson Public House.  It has good bus links to Harby, Collingham and Newark. A number of developments  are in progress including the planting of a community orchard and wild flower meadow and working closely with the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust Reserve to turn Besthorpe into a ‘Wildlife Village’. With the closure of the school  that important link with young people was broken, but there are now a number of young families in the village.

The other exciting development is the plan to refurbish and link the existing small Village Hall to the Church.  This will provide a viable community space for a range of activities and provide proper catering and toilet facilities and disabled access for the Hall and the Church. Bids have been submitted for a number of grants and fund raising activities planned.  It will mean some radical changes to the inside of the church whilst maintaining its integrity as a place of worship. Agreement in principle has been given by the PCC and the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) have had a site visit and expressed support for the plans.

The Bell Tower has been refurbished  through grants from a number of organisations and from money raised by the village.  A grant from English Heritage and fund raising by the village has meant that a new roof was completed on 2009.  The current plans for the Village Hall and Church will provide the opportunity for much needed repair and refurbishment of the interior fabric of the Church. 

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