Holy Trinity, Newton St. Loe

As you enter the church by the south door you can see two "scratch dials' on the left jamb of the porch, simple sun dials for the priest to use when checking that it was time for Mass! You then pass under an ogee arch with ball-flower decoration, matching the capitals of the quatrefoil piers of the south arcade and the four-leaf flower decoration of the small arch over the pulpit.

Just inside the door is the panel recording the complete list of Rectors of Newton St. Loe, beginning with Francis de Stockley in 1297!

The 14th century church consisted of nave, chancel, south aisle and porch. Of this early structure, the south aisle and porch remain as well as the east and west walls. The only changes in that _ of the church are some 19th century modifications of the windows-The west tower was added in the 15th century and is largely unchanged while the north aisle was built in 1857 - "to free the nave for the poor of the parish - for ever". At the same time, the north porch was constructed with its barrel vaulted roof. This could have resulted in the complete removal of a medieval rood loft - unless there is a section in the arch over the pulpit. It was at this time that the vestry was added.

For this building work, there was plenty of local raw material since the white lias could be quarried in Newton itself, the blue lias in Corston and the limestone in many areas around Bath. The floor of the south aisle and nave is paved with ledger stones and also displays two small commemorative brasses. The north aisle and chancel are paved with Victorian encaustic tiles.

Like the lower ridge of the chancel, the triple-ridged roof of the nave and aisle is supported by hammer beams and king posts lined with timber and clad in stone tiles. This is the Victorian replacement of the former single-spanned roof.

The diamond-patterned stained glass windows of the nave are also Victorian. The east window, portraying the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Trinity, is dated 1873 while the three commemorative windows of the chancel are 20th century in origin. The two square-headed Tudor windows in the vestry were removed from the north wall of the earlier nave and this explains their similarity to the tower window, which is clearly pre-Victorian. The small windows in the pulpit passage and the St. Francis window over the pulpit were erected in 1976/77 in memory of George and Margery Hughes and Charles and Joyce Roberts retrospectively.

The west window of the south aisle was blocked up during the erection of the Langton Memorial in 1701. This stone flag covered vault is surrounded by a cast-iron railing, "the earliest piece of cast-iron in Somerset, and perhaps the south-west of England according to Pevsner who calls this a " surprisingly stately and dignified monument in a courtly, restrained style, worthy of Westminster Abbey". The inscription on the marble tablet commemorates the premature deaths of seven of Joseph and Frances Langton's nine children and, later, both parents. A full translation is displayed on the nearby pillar.

The 61 feet high tower was originally open to the nave when built in the 15th century. It is now approached through an oak screen (erected in 1909 to commemorate General and Mrs. Bayly) with panels bearing the symbols.

The walls of the ground-floor ringing chamber are rendered as possibly were those of the nave before the Victorian restoration. The belfry contains six bells hung for change ringing. An additional set of hammers for a carillon is also in good working order. The tenor bell (10 1/2 cwt) is inscribed 'Thomas, Bilbie cast all we - July 4th 1741' and all six bells were cast from the metal of the 5 former bells. Below the belfry the clock mechanism also dates from the middle of the 18th century and has recently been restored (1989).  Click here to see more information.

The large number of memorial wall tablets form a history in themselves. Look at the Royal hatchment over die south door, the illuminated Lord's Prayer at die east end of the south aisle; and the two Rolls of Honour on the east wall of the north aisle. The ornate brass lectern is Victorian while the round stone font, with its 'stiff leaf’ decoration, is Early English in style and is a Victorian replacement of an older plain font.

The Victorian oak pews of the south aisle were generously spaced to accommodate the fashionable hooped skirts of that time and set aside for the Earl Temple with his family and retainers. The north aisle was for the tenant farmers and those gentry who paid 'pew rents', the west stalls for the children and the nave for the 'poor'.

The chancel is approached through a memorial oak screen presented in 1912. Like the stalls of the south aisle and the western end, the choir stalls have carved 'poppy' bench ends depicting leaf, flower and berry. The alabaster reredos (1891) presents the Nativity scene in relief and is set in a wooden triptych.

The two-manual pipe organ was presented by John Lascelles in 1879. It bears a plate 'In memory of Frank Angel - organist 1938-1967' recalling a man who also maintained the organ through all those years. From the vestry, a short passage behind the organ leads up to the Victorian oak pulpit which is supported by a slender stone column.

Against the east wall of the south aisle once stood an altar to the Virgin Mary from which another short passage, incorporating a 'squint’ or hagioscope, led to the chancel. This feature, discovered during the restoration, is now guarded by oak doors at each end which are bolted from the outside and contain a small grill. If this doubled as the village lock-up, the unhappy offender had nowhere to sit, very little headroom and no real ventilation after the 'squint’ was glazed!

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