About Us

Sir John Betjeman called Holy Trinity the Cathedral of the Arts and Crafts Movement. It is one of very few churches in Britain built as a single work by one circle of artists.

The 5th Earl Cadogan and his wife Beatrix replaced an earlier church on this site and chose John Dando Sedding as architect. Sedding had trained in the office of G. E. Street, where William Morris, Philip Webb and Norman Shaw also trained, and he was among the founders of the Arts and Crafts Movement. The building was completed in 1890. Sedding died the following year and his chief assistant Henry Wilson carried the work on, designing the font, the Lady Chapel, the metal screen, the bronze angels at the Memorial Chapel and the street railings.

The east window was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Company, the largest window the firm ever made. The north and south aisles hold windows by William Blake Richmond and Christopher Whall. F. W. Pomeroy made the bronze angels on the chancel screen and the reliefs above the choir stalls, and John Tweed carved the marble reredos. Onslow Ford, H. H. Armstead and Harry Bates are also represented.

The church was hit by incendiary bombs in the Second World War, and afterwards there was pressure to demolish rather than repair it. It was saved by a campaign mounted by the Victorian Society and by Betjeman, who wrote a verse in its defence calling it Chelsea's noblest house of prayer.

Holy Trinity is the parish church of Upper Chelsea in the Diocese of London, sharing a benefice with St Saviour's. Worship is sung every Sunday and said midweek. Junior Church meets alongside the Sunday morning service. Visitors are welcome on weekdays, and there is a guidebook available in church.