The Village and the Industrial Revolution

​The name Elsecar is thought to mean Elsi’s marsh. Elsi being a Saxon Lord who owned land here and ‘car’ being and old word for low swampy ground. Elsecar was mainly a farming village until coal mining came to the area. By 1720 Low Wood Colliery was extracting coal below the hillside wood bearing that name. Elsecar ‘old colliery’ was opened in 1750 and by 1795 Elsecar New colliery was opened. This was was drained by the now famous Newcomen beam engine the only one of it’s type in the world which is still in it’s original position. By 1836 the coal mines employed over 200 people. This increased by the opening of a further pit which produced a need for further housing provided by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. 

The Foundation of the Church

Subsequently it was determined that this growing population needed a local church. On Whit Monday 1841 the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam laid the foundation stone for the new Anglican church to be built at his expense. ​This took 2 years to build for the then princely sum of £2500. On Whit Monday in 1843 the new church was officially opened and consecrated by the Archbishop of York. Outwardly the church has changed little over the years. It is built of sandstone, roofed with slate and built to a pattern specified by 2 Acts of Parliament late in George III, especially in having a small chancel but with a contrastingly imposing tower.
This ‘west’ tower with angle buttresses has tripartite lancets at belfry level and is crowned with an octagonal stone spire. The nave has five lancet windows down each side and the chancel is a half octagonal apse. Inside the nave is a west gallery supported on pillars with bell capitals and is entered via the narrow tower staircase.

Church Chronicles

Inwardly however the church has undergone a number of changes, some to maintain the fabric of the building, others to reflect varying religious conventions or simply changing fashions. In 1870 gas lighting was installed, whilst some 20 years later the original windows were upgraded with leaded diamond panes. Originally the nave possessed 2 side aisles with a wide central block of pews which continued under the gallery. Subsequently in 1924 the pews were re-formed into 2 narrow blocks to allow for a wide central aisle, whilst in 1943 which happened to be the church’s centenary year the pews were re-ordered again with the one beneath the gallery being removed altogether to allow for a choir vestry and small weekday chapel. 

Present Day

The images below depict the layout of interior of Holy Trinity as it is today, following the many
changes that have occurred since it's opening and consecration in 1843.