Arms" and in 1660 of _6s._ to
"Hope for the King's Arms."
Five years after this the spire, which had caused much anxiety and
expense for many years, was blown down in a gale, falling across the
chancel and causing much destruction. All was restored and the spire
rebuilt in three years. Reference has been made to the existence of a
vaulted passage through the south transept. This was made necessary by
the position of an ancient building known as Jesus Hall which adjoined
the transept and thus blocked the way from "the Butchery" in this
direction. The Hall had probably been long used as the residence of
the priests attached to the church but nothing is known of its origin.
It was destroyed in 1742. Only in 1834, when the exterior of the
church was recased was the passage blocked and the floor of the upper
chapel removed.
The Register records the marriage of Sarah Kemble with William Siddons
on 25th November, 1773.
CHAPTER II
THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH
The church of Holy Trinity loses much, in popular estimation at least,
by its nearness to St. Michael's. It invites comparison of the most
obvious sort. It is not nearly so large and its spire is not so high,
these facts alone are sufficient to account for the popular view.
Fuller, in his "Worthies" says of the two churches, "How clearly would
they have shined if set at competent distance! Whereas now, such their
Vicinity, that the Archangel eclipseth the Trinity."
The plan is quite unlike that of its neighbour, being cruciform, with
a central tower, a short nave, and a chancel distinctly longer than
the nave. On the south both nave and chancel have a single aisle, the
transept projecting beyond it and there is a vestry at the east end.
On the north there is a similar aisle with a Lady Chapel at the east
corresponding to the Vestry, but a large porch and several chapels
fill up the spaces so that the transept does not in plan project.
Looking at the exterior as a whole it may be said that the more
moderate length (194 feet), the central spire, 230 feet high, and the
transepts unite in forming a more satisfactory composition than the
long body and immense western steeple of St. Michael's. There however,
the superiority ceases for the frequent "recasings" and restorations
have left hardly a stone of the exterior that has not been renewed
again and again, and the dates of these operations, 1786, 1826, 1843,
sufficiently suggest the degree of knowledge an
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