Holy Trinity Church, Casterton

Holy Trinity Church, Casterton
Holy Trinity Church, Casterton, from the southeast
Holy Trinity Church, Casterton Location in Cumbria
Coordinates: 54°12′41″N 2°34′38″W / 54.2115°N 2.5771°W / 54.2115; -2.5771
OS grid reference	SD 625,797
Location	Casterton, Cumbria
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Holy Trinity, Casterton
History
Founded	1831
Founder(s)	Rev William Carus Wilson
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	21 February 1989
Architect(s)	George Webster E. G. Paley
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1831
Completed	c. 1860
Specifications
Materials	Limestone and sandstone with ashlar dressings
Administration
Parish	Kirkby Lonsdale
Deanery	Kendal
Archdeaconry	Westmoreland and Furness
Diocese	Carlisle
Province	York
Clergy
Rector	Rev Richard John Snow

Holy Trinity Church is in the village of Casterton, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Kendal, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with those of five local parishes, the benefice being entitled Kirkby Lonsdale Team Ministry. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

The church was built between 1831 and 1833. It was founded by Rev William Carus Wilson, who also founded the Clergy Daughters' School that was attended by the Brontë sisters. The architectural historians Matthew Hyde and Nikolaus Pevsner state in the Buildings of England series that "the architect was almost certainly George Webster". In about 1860 the small chancel was replaced by a larger one designed by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley.

The original part of the church is constructed in rock-faced limestone, the chancel in rock-faced sandstone, both with ashlar dressings. Its plan consists of a six-bay nave with a south porch and a north vestry, a chancel with an organ loft to the north, and a west tower. The tower is partly embraced in the nave, forming a baptistry; Hyde and Pevsner state that it is "undersized". It is supported by diagonal buttresses, the bell openings are louvred with pointed heads and hoodmoulds, and the parapet is plain with raised angles. On the west side are two windows, one above the other, and a clock face. Along the sides of the nave are lancet windows alternating with buttresses, above which is a continuous hoodmould. The chancel has a steeper roof than the nave, rising to a higher level. Its east end has a coped gable surmounted by a cross, and contains three stepped lancet windows. On the south side of the chancel are three lancet windows and a doorway; on the north side is a single lancet to the east of the organ loft.