History of Holy Trinity Church 

In 1851 William 4th Earl of Abergavenny laid the foundation stone of a Sunday School  in Eridge where the curate of Frant would teach the children of the village. Five years later  a new parish of Eridge Green was created from parts of the old Frant and Rotherfield parishes with the Earl of Abergavenny as patron and he paid for a chancel and transepts to be added to the Sunday School to turn it into a church, which was consecrated on 19 July 1856 by the Bishop of Chichester.
 


The new church was called Holy Trinity after Chichester Cathedral; it was built of local sandstone and the interior was typically mid Victorian with dark stained pine pews and panelling and a red tiled floor. The Abergavenny family had their own pews  at the far end of the church.
 
In 1950 Guy 4th Marquess of Abergavenny paid for a remodelling of the church to the designs of John Denman, the architect who had recently designed Eridge Park, which  replaced the old Eridge Castle. The remodelling consisted of:  building a new vestry on the end of the west transept and creating new baptistery where the old vestry had been; inserting new windows: replacing all the old woodwork with carved oak felled on the Eridge Estate and laying a new floor of polished Travertine stone. The woodcarving was mainly done by George Swaysland although much of the lectern eagle was by a Polish craftsman J.Rioko.
 
Her Majesty The Queen, when Princess Elizabeth, visited the church in 1949 for the christening of Guy Nevill. The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret attended services several times, when they were staying at Eridge Park, sitting in the Abergavenny family pews. Sir Winston Churchill in later life came to Holy Trinity, when he was visiting his daughter Mary Soames, who was a regular member of the congregation: they sat in the front pew on the left hand side of the church. When Sir Winston died in London in 1965, it was the Vicar of Eridge Green – Philip Haylor - who said the prayers by his deathbed.
 






The flag above the Abergavenny pews is the Garter banner of John 5th Marquess of Abergavenny and it was brought from St George’s Chapel, Windsor after his death.
 







To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the church the large kneeler in front of the altar rail was embroidered by members of the congregation.