View source for Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox church
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| name = Holy Trinity Church
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| other name = Sunderland Parish Church
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| image = East End, Sunderland SR1, UK - panoramio.jpg
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| alt = A brick church with stone dressings seen from the south. The west tower has a clock and pinnacles, and along the south face of the body of the church are Georgian-style windows.
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| pushpin map = United Kingdom Tyne and Wear
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| map caption = Holy Trinity Church within Tyne and Wear
| coordinates = {{Coord|54.907765|-1.368648|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| osgridref = {{gbmappingsmall|NZ 40575 57189}}
| location = Church Street East, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear SR1 2BJ
| country = United Kingdom
| denomination = [[Anglicanism|Anglican]]
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| founded date = {{start date|1719|df=y}}
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| dedication = [[Trinity|The Holy Trinity]]
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| consecrated date = 5 September 1719
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| status = [[Parish Church]]
| functional status = Preserved
| heritage designation = [[Listed building|Grade I listed]]
| designated date = 8 May 1950
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| style = [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]]
| years built = 1718–1719
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| parish = Sunderland
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| diocese = Durham
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'''Holy Trinity Church''' (sometimes '''Church of the Holy Trinity''' or '''Sunderland Parish Church''') is an [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] [[church (building)|church]] building<ref name="KirtlanBooklet">{{cite web |last1=Kirtlan |first1=Norman |title=Places of Worship in Old Sunderland |url=http://www.sunderland-antiquarians.org/assets/Uploads/OPGM/WAP/PlacesofWorshipinOldSunderland.pdf |website=Sunderland Antiquarians |accessdate=19 November 2018 }}</ref> in [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]], [[Tyne and Wear]] formerly the area's parish church. It was opened in 1719 as the church for the newly created Parish of Sunderland,<ref name="BBC1">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/holy_trinity_church_gallery.shtml |title=Holy Trinity Church - photo gallery (image 1) |author=BBC Wear Online |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109160304/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wear/content/image_galleries/holy_trinity_church_gallery.shtml |archive-date=9 November 2012}}</ref> and served the local community until dwindling numbers forced its closure in 1988. It has since been in the ownership of the [[Churches Conservation Trust]] who have preserved the space and converted it into a community cultural hub.

==History==
===Origins===
In 1712, with the port of Sunderland growing rapidly, the local [[Sunderland Minster|St. Michael's church]] at Bishopwearmouth was rapidly becoming too small to serve the growing population.<ref name="BritExpress">{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=David |title=Sunderland, Holy Trinity Church |url=https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=4219 |website=Britain Express |accessdate=20 November 2018}}</ref> Some local merchants came together and started an appeal to build a new church in the east end of the city, and a site on the [[Town Moor, Sunderland|town moor was chosen]].

Because of the rapid growth of the population, it was also decided that a new parish should be created, and on 9 March 1719 an act of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|parliament]] was passed to create the Parish of Sunderland<ref name="ParlActParish">{{cite web |title=Main Papers |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/e75f177b-9bf2-471a-b75e-aa7580a15dcf |website=The National Archives |location=UK Parliamentary Archives |date=March 1719}}</ref><ref name="LambPalParish">{{cite web |title=Sunderland, Co. Durham |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/e93d3872-bdc6-4f7c-ab16-11626a233d9d |website=The National Archives |location=Lambeth Palace Library |date=1719}}</ref> (thus the church is sometimes referred to as Sunderland Parish Church). The [[Bishop of Durham]] of the time, [[Nathaniel Crew, 3rd Baron Crew|Nathaniel Crew]] gave his consent, as did Reverend James Bowes D.D.<ref name="ParlActParish" />

====Design====
{{stack|
[[File:HolyTrinitySunderland-western(front)elevation.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Western (front) elevation]]
}}
The architect of the original church is not known for certain, although there are reports of involvement from William Eddy<ref name="HistoricEngland">{{NHLE |desc=CHURCH OF HOLY TRINITY |num=1208056 |accessdate= 12 February 2019}}</ref><ref name="Seagull City">{{cite web |title=Seagull City: Sunderland's Literary and Cultural Heritage |url=https://wp.sunderland.ac.uk/seagullcity/east-end-and-old-sunderland/ |website=University of Sunderland Blogs: Seagull City |accessdate=12 February 2019}}</ref> (a well-known local architect) and Daniel Newcombe, who would be appointed the first [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of the church.

The building itself has a [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] style,<ref name="historicengland.org.uk">{{cite web| url = https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1208056| title = Church of Holy Trinity, Non Civil Parish - 1208056 {{!}} Historic England}}</ref> brick built and with stone mouldings surrounding the doors and windows. The original building was without apse, although this would later be added (see below), and from the outside is described by Whellan as "plain and unprepossessing".{{notetag|Reported to feature in the 1894 edition of Whellan,<ref name="Whellan">{{cite book |last1=Whellan |first1=William |title=History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palpatine of Durham, comprising a general survey of the county, with separate historical, statistical, and descriptive sketches of all the towns, boroughs, ports, parishes, chapelries, townships, willages, wards & manors. To which are subjoined a history and directory of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and a list of the seats of the nobility and gentry |date=1856 |publisher=Whittaker & Co. (London) |page=[https://archive.org/details/historytopograp02cogoog/page/n666 662] |edition=1856 |url=https://archive.org/details/historytopograp02cogoog |accessdate=21 November 2018}}</ref> as reported here.<ref name="Genuki">{{cite web |last1=Joiner |first1=Paul |title=Sunderland |url=http://joinermarriageindex.co.uk/pjoiner/genuki/DUR/Sunderland/index.html#ChurchHistory |website=GenUKI |accessdate=21 November 2018}}</ref>}}

Inside, the building is described by Whellan as "handsome",<ref name="Whellan" /> with the aisles of pews being separated from the central nave by seven pillars on each side, each being capped with a [[Corinthian order|corinthian]]-style capital. His full description reads:{{blockquote |text=The interior is handsome, and comprises a nave and chancel, and aisles, the latter of which are separated from the Nave by seven elegant pillars on each side, with Corinthian capitals. The communion table occupies a recess, covered by a dome supported in front by two Corinthian columns. There are galleries on each side, and at the west end of the nave; the front of the latter is charged with the royal arms, and those of Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham. Above the gallery is a smaller one for the accommodation of the choir. |author=William Whellan |title=History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palpatine of Durham...<ref name="Whellan" />}}

====Opening====
Following the start of groundwork in 1718, the church building was completed the next year, such that on 5 September 1719 the consecration of the premises took place;<ref name="WearsideOnline">{{cite web |title=Holy Trinity Church (The East End Of Sunderland) |url=https://wearsideonline.com/holy-trinity-church/ |website=Wearside Online |date=10 April 2010 |accessdate=18 November 2018}}</ref> prior to this, however, on 2 June 1719, the first recorded marriage took place at the church, of Jonathan Chambers and Elizabeth Hutchinson.<ref name="GenukiMarrList">{{cite web |last1=Pears |first1=Brian |title=Marriages from the Sunderland Registers (1719-1749) |url=http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/Transcriptions/DUR/SUN1719.html |website=GenUKI |accessdate=21 November 2018 |date=17 October 1996}}</ref>

===1700s===
[[File:HolyTrinitySunderland-apse.jpg|thumb|right|View of apse with tower in background]]
In 1735, Daniel Newcombe, the rector of the church who almost certainly had been involved in the original design of the building, decided to add an apse to the eastern end. This would give the building a chancel, which it had lacked until this point. The apse was large, near circular, and featuring a large venetian window; it still stands as part of the building today. Newcombe paid for the extension with his own money.<ref name="KirtlanBooklet" />

===1800s===
The church started the nineteenth century with a new roof in 1803, which included its raising so that a new gallery could be added.<ref name="BritExpress" />{{notetag|Although there is not a consensus, Ross suggests that the side windows may have been added at this time also.<ref name="BritExpress" />}} The windows were reglazed in the same year.<ref name="historicengland.org.uk"/>

In 1854 the last burial in the graveyard took place.<ref name="pressreader.com">{{Cite web |last=Gillan |first=Tony |date=November 14, 2020 |title=It’s standing room only at the graveyard with 100,000 bodies |url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/sunderland-echo/20201114/281681142411540 |accessdate=29 November 2023 |via=PressReader}}</ref>

A Venetian stained-glass window was added to the east side of the church in 1857. Manufactured by James Hartley's glassworks in Sunderland, it depicts the Ascension.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://historicengland.org.uk/get-involved/visit/walking-tours/sunderland-heritage-walk/holy-trinity-church/| title = Stop 10: Holy Trinity Church - Sunderland's High Streets Heritage Walk {{!}} Historic England}}</ref>

====Jack Crawford Memorial====
{{main|Jack Crawford (sailor)}}
[[File:JackCrawfordMemorial(HolyTrinitySunderland).jpg|thumb|right|[[Jack Crawford (sailor)|Jack Crawford]] memorial in the graveyard]]
Jack Crawford, the "Hero of Camperdown", was a sailor aboard ''HMS Venerable'' in 1797, during the Battle of Camperdown. ''Venerable'' took fire damaging its mast, which lowered the flag of Admiral Duncan – recognised as the sign of surrender – so Crawford scaled the remnants of the mast and nailed the Admiral's flag back to the top.

Crawford was well celebrated for his act of heroism, and the people of Sunderland awarded him a silver star. In the coming years, however, he fell into poverty<ref name="pressreader.com"/> and was killed by a cholera outbreak in 1831.

In 1888, Holy Trinity Church erected a headstone in its graveyard in his honour.{{blockquote|The sailor who heroically nailed Admiral Duncan's flag to the main-top-callant-mast of H.M.S. Venerable, after it had been shot away, in the glorious action off Camperdown, October 11th 1797.<br />Jack Crawford was born in the pottery-bank Sunderland 1775, and died in his native town 1831, aged 56 years.|title=Jack Crawford Memorial, Holy Trinity Churchyard}}This was followed two years later by a statue of commemoration in Mowbray Park.

===1900s===
The 1900s started with the church being re-glazed,<ref name="HistoricEngland"/> before community life began to degrade and the number of churchgoers in the east end of Sunderland diminished.<ref name="WearsideOnline"/>

===Closure===
The congregation continued to diminish throughout the 20th century, until on 26 June 1988 the church was forced to close, and transferred to the Redundant Churches Fund<ref name="WearsideOnline"/> (now known as the [[Churches Conservation Trust]]). The building itself needed extensive and costly repairs, and indeed to this day the Trust are still undertaking repairs.<ref name="CannySpace">{{cite web |title=Creating a 'Canny Space' in Sunderland |website=Churches Conservation Trust |accessdate=12 February 2019 |url=https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/what-we-do/blog/canny-space.html |date=26 October 2017}}</ref>

The nearby church caretaker's cottage (formerly [[Donnison School]], which closed at some point between 1905-1910) was [[Listed building|Grade II listed]] in 1978,<ref name=DSHC>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Donnison School Heritage Centre|url=http://www.donnisonschoolheritagecentre.com/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 3, 2019|website=}}</ref><ref name=HistEng>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Caretaker's Cottage to Church of Holy Trinity and Attached Wall, Church Walk|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1293305|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 2, 2019|website=Historic England}}</ref> and became the Donnison School Heritage and Education Centre in 2007.<ref name=DSHC/>

==Present day==
[[File:HolyTrinitySunderland-southern(side)elevation.jpg|thumb|right|Southern (side) elevation]]

No longer in use as a place of worship, the building these days goes by the name of ''Seventeen Nineteen'', a community venue and cultural arts centre.

==See also==
{{Commons}}
*[[Grade I listed buildings in Tyne and Wear]]
*[[List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in Northern England]]

==Notes==
{{notefoot}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Listed buildings in the City of Sunderland}}

[[Category:Churches in the City of Sunderland]]
[[Category:Grade I listed churches in Tyne and Wear]]
[[Category:18th-century Church of England church buildings|Sunderland, Holy Trinity Church]]
[[Category:Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust|Sunderland, Holy Trinity Church]]
[[Category:Sunderland]]