Holy Trinity Church
The image on the left is the North East View probably from the late 19th century. It can be purchased from the church as a rather nice notelet and I have permission to place it here in the hope that visitors will want to buy some notelets!
Holy Trinity Church in Coates has its own website. My potted history of the church can be found below. Does Coates church face East? See my answer HERE. Click here to see a list of the Rectors of Holy Trinity, Coates. Click here for the Churchyard Plan (Burial Plot Maps). |
This image was sent to me via Facebook and shows the church before the house, now next to it, was built. Thus the date is approximately 2000, at a guess! I cannot recall what was there before the present house but I do not remember there being any building so close to the church when I cycled there as a boy. However, see HERE!
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Way, way back in history.
In a volume called Fenland Notes and Queries (Volume 5) I discovered some Latin text which was translated a couple of pages later. I state the essential information in my own words below.
Apparently, in 1403, the parishioners of Whittlesey were granted a licence to build a chapel in the hamlet of Eastrea and Coates because, at certain times of the year, the people could not get to church when they duty bound to go for particular religious feasts. The problems were given as "floods and other difficulties".
In 1434 the people of Eastrea and Coates were given a Licence to attend Divine Service in the newly erected chapel at Eastrea dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
In a volume called Fenland Notes and Queries (Volume 5) I discovered some Latin text which was translated a couple of pages later. I state the essential information in my own words below.
Apparently, in 1403, the parishioners of Whittlesey were granted a licence to build a chapel in the hamlet of Eastrea and Coates because, at certain times of the year, the people could not get to church when they duty bound to go for particular religious feasts. The problems were given as "floods and other difficulties".
In 1434 the people of Eastrea and Coates were given a Licence to attend Divine Service in the newly erected chapel at Eastrea dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
A potted history of the church building
It was in 1839 that the idea for The Chapel of the Holy Trinity was conceived. In April a meeting of subscribers was held at St Mary’s Church, Whittlesey. It was chaired by Revd Simeon Lloyd Pope. The other subscribers were John Walbanke Childers MP (who gave a ‘handsome donation’), J. Jones Bateman, Charles Boyce, John Little, Harry Little and Joseph Waddelow. Mr. Childers donated a house and land to the committee for the chapel and Revd Brocklebank lived there.
In July 1839 the Architect (Mr. Wild) received four tenders to build the chapel: The Bennett & Grounds tender (£1178.0.0d) was accepted.
On 7th September 1839 the first stone was laid by Revd Pope. This extract, from the Ecclesiastical Gazette July 1838-June 1839 (Page 69), has been ‘brought up to date’ and condensed by me. The original can be found on the internet.
Whittlesey – The local people were delighted by the laying of the first stone of a new church at Coates on 7th September. The vicar of St. Mary’s Whittlesey has worked very hard to secure funds for the project. J. W. Childers, Esq. M.P., who also gave the ground for the church and churchyard, donated 30 shillings, the Lords of the Manor 20 shillings, and Mr. Joseph Waddelow (a resident farmer), 10 shillings per annum towards the costs. The Church Building Society and National Commissioners generously contributed 600 shillings towards the structure, and the parishioners, with clergy and surrounding gentry, have unanimously supported the project by their own giving.
After a procession of the Sunday-school children, the villagers, the committee and clergy had reached the building site, they sang the 100th Psalm. After the 122nd and 132nd Psalms, a few Collects were read and then a prayer for the occasion was offered up by the Rev. Mr. Brocklebank, the resident minister of Coates. The Rev. Mr. Pope assisted by Mr. Wild, the architect and builder, then laid “the chief corner-stone” placing, in a cavity, a brass plate, with the inscription:- “The first stone of this chapel in connexion with St. Mary’s, Whittlesey, was laid on the 7th September, 1839, by the Vicar. ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will towards men’.” When another hymn had been sung the vicar gave an impressive sermon.
A much longer report appeared in the Cambridge Independent Press on 21st September 1839. From it we learn:
25 January 1840 - £345 was paid to the builders for work carried out, and a further £51 to the architect for travelling expenses.
In 1874 the church was restored and was then able to seat 501 people with open benches and aisles, at a cost of £1050. At the time the population was recorded as 1266.
22nd July 1848 in the Cambridge Independent Press, in a contribution essentially about St. Mary’s Whittlesey weather vane, the writer observes, “… only let a person take a view of the handsome little new church at Coates: after its erection a clumsy vane was unfortunately placed, by the order of someone, on the west end of it, which, to every eye in the least alive to beauty of design, had the most oppressive effect imagin¬able.”
On 6th April 1850 the Cambridge Independent Press reports that Mr John Little was appointed Chapel-warden for Coates.
1872 October 26th The Cambridge Independent Press carried a complaint that, “The living of Coates has been destitute of an incumbent for about four months, during which time the Sunday duty has been taken by the Rev. M. Bird, of Peterborough, but in all other respects the parish is destitute of the oversight of a pastor. I officiated at a wedding and a churching this morning, and found the church cold, dirty, and in every sense bearing the marks of having been for some time 'left to itself'. How is the long unoccupied state of the living to be accounted for! …”
The following snippets come from the Peterborough Advertiser
June 29th 1901: A very successful jumble sale was held in the church school room on Thursday. It raised £70 which was to be devoted to the church wall repair.
December 16th 1911: On Sunday afternoon in a violent storm a portion of cement covering the tower fell with a crash. Some hit the nave and broke several slates. The noise startled the Junior Bible Club in church. The tower will have to be re-cemented all over. This is a worry for the Rector and churchwardens as it is a costly job and finances are at a low ebb.
January 13th 1912: The Rector had taken advice about the renovation of the tower. Local quotes would be invited.
May 11th 1912: The work on the church spire had been delayed but was now underway. The Rector was still ill and confined to bed but his condition had improved over the last 10 days. Rev. A. E. T. Newman and Rev. J. T. Holmes had been taking services.
March 29th 1913: The Churchwardens presented their annual statement of accounts at the Vestry meeting on Tuesday evening in the Parish Room, … after paying for the Tower Restoration, new fencing, etc., it showed a balance in hand of about £1 15s. The Rector, … reappointed Mr. W. Thompson as his warden, and Mr. G. A. Beaton was unanimously re-elected people's warden. … It was decided to get the Church interior cleaned, that summer, and for that purpose the Wardens were requested to get tenders…
August 2nd 1913: Church Restoration—Visitors to Coates Church after a month’s absence would hardly have recognise it as the same building as the one they saw last time. The work of cleaning and renovating the interior had been completed and a vast improvement had been made. The East or Chancel end was hardly recognisable. The walls had been tinted with two shades of red Duresos, whilst the curtains had been taken down revealing behind the altar three very prettily designed arches which had been cleaned and stone-coloured, giving a delightful aspect to the whole of the East end. The nave had been treated with two shades of grey-blue Duresos, and the brickwork around the walls and over the windows, had been cleaned, and lined out … about £25 was required for the work. A band of loyal workers voluntarily cleaned and scrubbed the church after the workmen had left, or the expense would have been greatly increased.
In recent times (early 2000s?) a major re-ordering of the church took place, removing pews from the west aspect, and installing kitchen and toilet facilities, and also an entrance lobby framed by tall glass partitions.
The Portuguese hymn (mentioned above) is, these days, known as “O Come all ye faithful”, a Christmas Carol. It also existed in this form:-
Hither, ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph,
To Bethlehem haste, the Prince of life to meet;
To you this day, is born a Prince and Saviour:
Chorus:
O come, let us worship,
O come, let us worship,
O come let us worship
at his feet.
Jesus our Saviour, for such condescension,
Our praise and our reverence are an offering meet;
Now is the word made flesh, and dwells among us:
(chorus)
Shout his almighty name, ye choirs of angels,
And let the celestial courts his praise repeat;
Give to our Saviour glory in the highest:
(chorus)
Source The Christian Lyre http://books.google.com/books?id=NyVwTQIfNWoC&pg=RA1-PA153
It was in 1839 that the idea for The Chapel of the Holy Trinity was conceived. In April a meeting of subscribers was held at St Mary’s Church, Whittlesey. It was chaired by Revd Simeon Lloyd Pope. The other subscribers were John Walbanke Childers MP (who gave a ‘handsome donation’), J. Jones Bateman, Charles Boyce, John Little, Harry Little and Joseph Waddelow. Mr. Childers donated a house and land to the committee for the chapel and Revd Brocklebank lived there.
In July 1839 the Architect (Mr. Wild) received four tenders to build the chapel: The Bennett & Grounds tender (£1178.0.0d) was accepted.
On 7th September 1839 the first stone was laid by Revd Pope. This extract, from the Ecclesiastical Gazette July 1838-June 1839 (Page 69), has been ‘brought up to date’ and condensed by me. The original can be found on the internet.
Whittlesey – The local people were delighted by the laying of the first stone of a new church at Coates on 7th September. The vicar of St. Mary’s Whittlesey has worked very hard to secure funds for the project. J. W. Childers, Esq. M.P., who also gave the ground for the church and churchyard, donated 30 shillings, the Lords of the Manor 20 shillings, and Mr. Joseph Waddelow (a resident farmer), 10 shillings per annum towards the costs. The Church Building Society and National Commissioners generously contributed 600 shillings towards the structure, and the parishioners, with clergy and surrounding gentry, have unanimously supported the project by their own giving.
After a procession of the Sunday-school children, the villagers, the committee and clergy had reached the building site, they sang the 100th Psalm. After the 122nd and 132nd Psalms, a few Collects were read and then a prayer for the occasion was offered up by the Rev. Mr. Brocklebank, the resident minister of Coates. The Rev. Mr. Pope assisted by Mr. Wild, the architect and builder, then laid “the chief corner-stone” placing, in a cavity, a brass plate, with the inscription:- “The first stone of this chapel in connexion with St. Mary’s, Whittlesey, was laid on the 7th September, 1839, by the Vicar. ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will towards men’.” When another hymn had been sung the vicar gave an impressive sermon.
A much longer report appeared in the Cambridge Independent Press on 21st September 1839. From it we learn:
- that the procession mentioned above started at the house of Mr. Joseph Waddelow.
- that the band led the procession, playing the Portuguese hymn (See foot of this page).
- that about 500 people were present.
- that the day ended with a dinner at the Falcon, tastefully catered by Mr. and Mrs. Ward.
- that Mr. Wild (the architect) waived his claims to some of the profit from the work he had done. He regretted that there was no tower to the building, so Mr. John Waddelow offered to make up any deficiency in the funds; for the sake of seeing what the poet has styled “the village that topped the neighbouring hill”. {This is a misquote of The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith in which appears the line ‘The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill’}
25 January 1840 - £345 was paid to the builders for work carried out, and a further £51 to the architect for travelling expenses.
- April 1840 - Mrs Childers gave £50, and further payments to the builders (£420) and architect (£20) were made.
- June 1840 - The committee were extremely dissatisfied with the lack of progress on the church.
- July 1840 The Committee received an assurance that the work would be completed by the agreed date.
- 27 July 1840 - The building was inspected.
- 28 July 1840 - The Chapel at Coates was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese (Ely), Bishop Allan, and dedicated to the Holy Trinity, thenceforth the building was known as The Chapel Of The Holy Trinity. At this service the Bishop delivered a sermon on preaching the gospel to the poor. The church, described as ‘neat and primitive’ was filled to every corner by the congregation, and a collection taken raised almost 60 shillings.
- 1st August 1840 – The Cambridge Independent Press reported the Whittlesey Bazaar was held, “… in aid of the finds of the church now erecting at Coates, … on the previous Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and was attended by the families of the neighbourhood.” (A further VERY LONG report in the 1840 August 7th edition of the Stamford Mercury tells us that £388.10.7d was raised).
- 1840 The first incumbent was Revd Thomas Bedford. Harry Little served as Chapel Warden.
In 1874 the church was restored and was then able to seat 501 people with open benches and aisles, at a cost of £1050. At the time the population was recorded as 1266.
22nd July 1848 in the Cambridge Independent Press, in a contribution essentially about St. Mary’s Whittlesey weather vane, the writer observes, “… only let a person take a view of the handsome little new church at Coates: after its erection a clumsy vane was unfortunately placed, by the order of someone, on the west end of it, which, to every eye in the least alive to beauty of design, had the most oppressive effect imagin¬able.”
On 6th April 1850 the Cambridge Independent Press reports that Mr John Little was appointed Chapel-warden for Coates.
1872 October 26th The Cambridge Independent Press carried a complaint that, “The living of Coates has been destitute of an incumbent for about four months, during which time the Sunday duty has been taken by the Rev. M. Bird, of Peterborough, but in all other respects the parish is destitute of the oversight of a pastor. I officiated at a wedding and a churching this morning, and found the church cold, dirty, and in every sense bearing the marks of having been for some time 'left to itself'. How is the long unoccupied state of the living to be accounted for! …”
The following snippets come from the Peterborough Advertiser
June 29th 1901: A very successful jumble sale was held in the church school room on Thursday. It raised £70 which was to be devoted to the church wall repair.
December 16th 1911: On Sunday afternoon in a violent storm a portion of cement covering the tower fell with a crash. Some hit the nave and broke several slates. The noise startled the Junior Bible Club in church. The tower will have to be re-cemented all over. This is a worry for the Rector and churchwardens as it is a costly job and finances are at a low ebb.
January 13th 1912: The Rector had taken advice about the renovation of the tower. Local quotes would be invited.
May 11th 1912: The work on the church spire had been delayed but was now underway. The Rector was still ill and confined to bed but his condition had improved over the last 10 days. Rev. A. E. T. Newman and Rev. J. T. Holmes had been taking services.
March 29th 1913: The Churchwardens presented their annual statement of accounts at the Vestry meeting on Tuesday evening in the Parish Room, … after paying for the Tower Restoration, new fencing, etc., it showed a balance in hand of about £1 15s. The Rector, … reappointed Mr. W. Thompson as his warden, and Mr. G. A. Beaton was unanimously re-elected people's warden. … It was decided to get the Church interior cleaned, that summer, and for that purpose the Wardens were requested to get tenders…
August 2nd 1913: Church Restoration—Visitors to Coates Church after a month’s absence would hardly have recognise it as the same building as the one they saw last time. The work of cleaning and renovating the interior had been completed and a vast improvement had been made. The East or Chancel end was hardly recognisable. The walls had been tinted with two shades of red Duresos, whilst the curtains had been taken down revealing behind the altar three very prettily designed arches which had been cleaned and stone-coloured, giving a delightful aspect to the whole of the East end. The nave had been treated with two shades of grey-blue Duresos, and the brickwork around the walls and over the windows, had been cleaned, and lined out … about £25 was required for the work. A band of loyal workers voluntarily cleaned and scrubbed the church after the workmen had left, or the expense would have been greatly increased.
In recent times (early 2000s?) a major re-ordering of the church took place, removing pews from the west aspect, and installing kitchen and toilet facilities, and also an entrance lobby framed by tall glass partitions.
The Portuguese hymn (mentioned above) is, these days, known as “O Come all ye faithful”, a Christmas Carol. It also existed in this form:-
Hither, ye faithful, haste with songs of triumph,
To Bethlehem haste, the Prince of life to meet;
To you this day, is born a Prince and Saviour:
Chorus:
O come, let us worship,
O come, let us worship,
O come let us worship
at his feet.
Jesus our Saviour, for such condescension,
Our praise and our reverence are an offering meet;
Now is the word made flesh, and dwells among us:
(chorus)
Shout his almighty name, ye choirs of angels,
And let the celestial courts his praise repeat;
Give to our Saviour glory in the highest:
(chorus)
Source The Christian Lyre http://books.google.com/books?id=NyVwTQIfNWoC&pg=RA1-PA153