Holy Trinity

In 1865 Henry Bath of Alltyferin commissioned architect Benjamin Bucknall to create a new church about 1/2 mile north east of Pontargothi. Bucknall was heavily influenced by Eugene Viollet Le Duc, who restored Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Bath was a staunchly religious Anglican, but rather than impose his views on the locals he had an entirely new church built at his own expense, on land owned by Talley Abbey. He hired Bucknall to design a new church, and work began in 1865, though the church was not consecrated until 1878. By that time Bath was dead, dying unexpectedly on a sea voyage back from Chile in 1875. Bath had originally planned to have his family buried in a vault beneath the altar. The vault was built, but the church was never consecrated for burials, so the vault stands empty, and the churchyard looks remarkably uncluttered, like a carefully mown lawn, decorated with just a single churchyard cross.

Bucknall created a simple church in Romanesque style, with Gothic touches, decorated with stained glass windows by the famous London firm of Clayton and Bell. A striking nave window shows prophets and the Evangelists, while a window in the chancel illustrates some very Victorian looking angels. The windows are so richly coloured that they seem to shine.

The font is made from Swansea marble, but the most interesting feature of the interior is the amazing series of paintings by Arthur Stansell, of Taunton. There is an ornate frieze running around the interior, and the walls and ceiling are richly decorated with Gothic motifs. Murals run from floor to ceiling, seeming to cover every surface in a monochrome scheme of ochre on cream. Near the altar the monochrome gives way to gilded embellishments.