About Us
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.
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. Work on repairing the railings and supporting walls was completed in Spring 2016.
In 2014 we completed an ambitious project to join the church to the adjacent village hall to create Trinity Hall. The pews have been removed, underfloor heating and a new oak floor installed. The walls have been replastered and lime washed and the windows repaired and cleaned. Access through to the refurbished village hall gives fully disabled access and toilets and a kitchen. It now provides an open flexible space which still retains the integrity of a place of worship. Work was financed by grants from Lafarge-Tarmac, WREN, The Big Lottery, Notts Historic Churches' Trust, a number of smaller grants and money from fund raising activities and donations from villagers.
The church space is now used for a variety of community activities including children's parties and a very successful Children's Playscheme, Youth Club, Yoga, Keep Fit and Tuesday Club have been set up. Trinity Hall is also available for concerts, business meetings or conferences with IT equipment, broadband access and hearing loop facilities.
In the past Holy Trinity was not licensed to perform marriages but we were granted a licence in 2014 so everyone is welcome to come to our church in its beautiful setting for their wedding service. Trinity Hall also provides a lovely venue for a wedding reception. We can cater for up to 180 people and the hall is fully licensed for music and alcohol etc.
Pages and Links
East Trent Churches website http://www.hugofox/community/east-trent-churches-7910
Besthorpe village website http://www.besthorpe.org.uk/
HLF Project http://besthorpe.org.uk/heritage-lottery-project/
A Church Near You wedding planner http://www.achurchnearyou.com/besthorpe-holy-trinity/Wedding Planner
Church History Project http://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/besthorpe/hintro.php