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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Warwickshire

by Peter Kessler, 18 April 2010

South Warwickshire Part 36: Churches of Ettington

St Thomas Becket Church

St Thomas Becket Church, Ettington, is the second 'old church' in the parish, and lies on the northern side of Banbury Road, close to the roundabout at the western end of Ettington. Due to the great distance of almost three kilometres (a mile and-three-quarters) between the Old Church and Upper Ettington, a vestry meeting was held on 28 April 1794 which decided to erect a new church that was closer to home. An Act for that purpose was obtained the following year.

St Thomas Becket Church

St Thomas Becket opened for worship in 1798. Unfortunately it quickly gained the reputation of being the ugliest church in the county. It was superseded in 1903 by yet another new church, Holy Trinity, on another site for unspecified reasons (maybe as St Thomas was also on the edge of the village). It was demolished in April 1913, apart from its tower which still serves as a mortuary chapel. A stone in the graveyard marks the site of the Shirley transept, 1800-1913.

Holy Trinity & St Thomas of Canterbury

Holy Trinity & St Thomas of Canterbury, Ettington, is positioned on the south-western side of Halford Road as it merges with Banbury Road, and is the village's third (and still current) church. When it was decided after just a century that the second church, St Thomas Becket, was to be replaced, a fresh site was selected upon which to construct Holy Trinity. The work was completed in in 1903, in the fourteenth century style using glorious yellow-hued stone.

Holy Trinity & St Thomas of Canterbury

The church consists of a chancel, north tower and organ chamber, south vestry, and nave. The walls are of Bourton stone. The tower contains four bells, three of which are from the old church. Two of these date to 1595 by Edward Newcombe, and the other is from 1624 by R Purdue of Bristol. The fourth bell, a tenor, was recast in 1803. In the precinct of the present church stands the village war memorial, a small granite cross bearing the names of twenty-five fallen.

All photos on this page kindly contributed by Aidan McRae Thomson.

 

 

     
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