Holy Trinity Church, Northwich
Holy Trinity Church, Northwich, is in the Castle district of Northwich, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Middlewich, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the diocese of Chester. Its benefice was united with that of St Luke, Winnington, Northwich until 2018 when the benefice was dissolved and Holy Trinity became a single parish again. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
History
From 1720 improvements were made to the River Weaver to make it more navigable for transport from the salt mines in the Winsford area of Cheshire to the River Mersey, creating the Weaver Navigation. In 1839 the Weaver Navigation Trustees received a petition from its employees to allow them "the privilege of resting on the Sabbath day" and to "have an opportunity of attending Divine Service". Previous Acts of Parliament had already prohibited bargemen from having to work on Sundays. On 12 August 1839 the Trustees passed a by-law forbidding traffic on the Navigation between midnight on Saturday and midnight on Sunday. On 4 August 1840 a Weaver Navigation Act was passed to authorise the Trustees to use part of their funds to build one or more churches for their employees. Holy Trinity, Northwich, was one of these churches, the others being Christ Church, Weston Point, and Christ Church, Winsford. The architect gaining the commission for all three churches was Edmund Sharpe of Lancaster.The site chosen for the church was a small hill known as "Castle". The land was purchased for £79 from Lord Tollemache of Peckforton Castle. The foundation stone for the church was laid on 1 July 1841 by Lord Tollemache, and the church was consecrated exactly one year later. The sandstone for building the church was given by J. L. Wright, a quarry owner from Runcorn and Weston Point. When built, the church could seat about 430 people.