The Parish of Holy Trinity was the fifth to be carved out of the original Anglican parish of St Mary, Hornsey, as the population grew.
The first was St Michael, Highgate in 1832 and Holy Trinity was established in 1878 on the corner of Granville and Stapleton Hall Roads. The new church replaced a temporary Mission Hall from Holy Innocents in Tottenham Lane which had been very over-crowded. The architect was Mr Edmund Benjamin Ferrey and the church was built by Messrs Mattock Bros. The Foundation Stone was laid in April 1880 and the church was consecrated in the following December. The design for the spire was passed by Hornsey Local Board in February 1882. The new church was finally completed by January 1885.
The first vicar
The first Vicar, 1885 – 1911, was the Rev. Robert Linklater who was nominated by Mr Gladstone, the Prime Minister. Gladstone later apologised, saying he had not known the congregation was Low Church whereas Re. Linklater was a High Church ritualist. Various people resigned but the dissent gradually died away and Holy Trinity is Anglo-Catholic today.
Rev. Linklater worked hard for the Parish and the Christian education of its children. He died in 1915 and was followed as Vicar by Rev. Arundell. Another Vicar, who came from St Peter le Poer on Colney Hatch Lane, was Rev. Aidan Hancock, at Holy Trinity from 1926 – 1940. He was followed by Rev. Marsden who died in 1944.
The church was damaged by a V1 Flying Bomb in July 1944 and in June 1951 it was closed, being unsafe. It was pulled down in the 1960s and the former red brick church hall in Granville Road was adapted and became the church with an added portico and spirelet. In March 2011 the garden became a ‘Peace Garden’, opened by Bruce Kent, well known for his CND support. The old base of a memorial to those who died in the First World War was joined by an information board recording the tragedy of those who died in the World War Two bombing.
Website editor’s note
The Rev. Brooke Kingsmill-Lunn, now retired in London, was Vicar of St Luke’s Church, Mayfield Road, Crouch End, then Vicar of Holy Trinity until his retirement.
You can read the full story of Mr Gladstone, Re. Linklater and Holy Trinity Church, Stroud Green in HHS Bulletin 41, 2000. On sale in the Old Schoolhouse, Tottenham Lane, London N8 7EL, once it reopens. following government guidance.
wpDiscuz