Our History
Holy Trinity Church
“Our church has been hallowed by continuous prayer and praise to God who inspired its building. It is not, nor should it ever be, just a historic monument. It is a living building where Christians, alive to the needs of the village and of the world, join together to explore and to discover their part in meeting those needs under the direction of God.” Matthew Lynn Vicar 1983-1988
Until the end of the 18th century Bembridge was a tiny fishing and farming community, part of the parish of Brading. To go to church, people had to walk or go by carriage across the marshes or by boat across the harbour. Then in the early years of the 19th century, the people of Bembridge determined to build their own church. In 1827 an agreement was signed in which Edward Wise, who had recently inherited Hillgrove in Bembridge, handed over as a gift in perpetuity the land on which a Chapel of Ease could be built and a burial ground established. Funds were raised locally and the Trinity House Board paid for the spire as it would act as a useful seamark, important in the days of sail and before the invention of sophisticated navigational equipment. The chapel was built, apparently to a plan by John Nash, largely from stone taken from Bembridge ledge. It was consecrated in the summer of 1827.
Ten years on, plans began to be made to enlarge the chapel but, as work began in 1840, cracks appeared and a decision was eventually made to demolish it. Determined to build a new and safer church, a subscription list was opened. Architect Thomas Hellyer was appointed. He designed several other churches on the Island including Seaview, Holy Trinity Ryde and Binstead and went on to design the National Hospital of Diseases of the Chest at Ventnor where the Botanical Gardens now are sited.
Hellyer designed Holy Trinity Bembridge in the Early English style and re-sited it on firmer ground to the east of the original building. This time it was built of very durable Purbeck stone quarried from Swanage and for the second time Trinity House supplied the spire which was added in 1850.
On 22 July 1846 the Bishop of Winchester consecrated the completed building which is largely unchanged today. It was considerably larger than the earlier chapel and has stood securely for over 175 years. There have been two small structural changes. In 1896 a vestry was added, useful for storage and providing an entrance for the choir. It is also used for registry signing at weddings and small meetings. An organ chamber was added in the same year. Early in the life of Holy Trinity a barrel organ had been installed. This basic instrument was superseded in 1857 by a combined finger and barrel organ and then by an organ with manuals only
Finally, to mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, a Foster and Andrews organ was installed. It was completely refurbished in 2006, thanks to the Friends of Holy Trinity and a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and is in use today. As in most English churches, the interior of Holy Trinity has been embellished by occasional additions and by memorial plaques and windows. The lancet windows on the north side are memorials with delightful angels at the top and bottom holding scrolls and a definite Pre- Raphaelite influence in the treatment of the greenery and the colours. Each window has a different message: Hope, Faith, Patience and Charity. There is a fine lancet window on the south side commemorating John Towers-Clark, who was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 aged 20, and a further window in the south-west corner with 3 more angels and the figure of Constantine, who was the first Christian Roman Emperor.
On the north wall there is a marble memorial to the Honourable Augustus John Francis Moreton and next to it an arresting figure of St George slaying the dragon, commissioned in honour of Norman Charles Henry Macdonald Moreton. Norman lost his life in the second Battle of Ypres in 1915 for which he was awarded the Military Cross. He was the seventh child of eight and the only son of another Augustus, who himself died that same year.
The carved reredos of gilded oak above the altar by F E Hansard dates from c.1900. It was given to the church in 1919 in memory of those who fell in the First World War. The figures of St Peter and St Paul were added as a memorial to Rev Gwennap Moore, vicar from 1926 to 1930.
At the west end is a Roll of Honour carved in oak with the names of Bembridge men who died in both World Wars and in the Falklands War. They are also honoured on the War Memorial in the Remembrance Garden just east of the Library.
The spire, surmounted by a cross which replaces the former weathervane, contains three bells, installed in 1865. Operated by levers, a remarkable number of variations can be rung from a simple doh-ray-me arrangement. In 1884 it was discovered that the church had never actually been licensed for Marriage Services.
The effect of this discovery was that all marriages that had taken place at Holy Trinity were illegal and all the children of those marriages were illegitimate. This included the children of the then vicar, the Rev le Mesurier. Happily an Act of Parliament was passed rectifying the omission which legitimised the marriages and the issue of those marriages. The 150th anniversary of the church was celebrated in July 1996 when a plaque was erected listing the names of the previous vicars of Bembridge. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Portsmouth at a celebration service and hangs next to the main door.
On 1 January 2000 a yew tree, propagated from an ancient tree estimated to be at least 2000 years old, was planted in the churchyard as part of a countrywide scheme to celebrate the new millennium. 2021 was the 175th anniversary of the church. We cherish our church as a place of peace, prayer and worship in the heart of the community.
‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’ Numbers 6: 24-26
St Lukes
Built in 1887 St Luke's was initially built as a mission church, a chapel of ease, meaning it was built to serve the needs of the parish beyond the main Holy Trinity Church. It was specifically designed to be a chapel within the cemetery, hence its location on Lane End Road.
St Luke's Cemetery is considered an extension of Holy Trinity Churchyard, with the cemetery itself being referred to as "Bembridge (Holy Trinity) Churchyard extension" in CWGC records. The cemetery contains a few war burials, including one from World War I and five from World War II.
Today, St Luke's continues to serve as a place of worship within the Bembridge parish, providing additional space and services for the congregation.