Holy Trinity is an Anglican church on Trinity Road close to Tooting Bec, in the parish known as Upper Tooting. It is a Grade-II listed building. The parish includes Tooting Bec station and runs down to Tooting Common in the south, straddling Balham High Road.
The church was built in 1854-55, and designed by the Victorian church architect Anthony Salvin (1799-1881), who also restored a number of country houses and castles. The tower was added in 1860, and the aisles widened in 1889 and 1893. The south aisle was separated off from the rest of the church for use as a hall in 1976.
The exterior is built in ragstone with Bath stone dressings, in a 14th century Decorated Gothic style. Both aisles as well as the nave and chancel have gable roofs. Although the interior is grandly proportioned and spacious, with arcades of five bays on round piers, the whitewashing rather drains it of character, and the blocking off of the south aisle unbalances what would otherwise be a really impressive space. The chancel and north chapel are rather happier architecturally, an attractive touch in the former being a pair of dormer windows.
Decorations are modest, but most notable are the Pre-Raphaelite style wall paintings of St Agnes (in the north chapel) and St Oswald (on the west wall) and on the tower walls around the font, painted 1906-13 by Richard Castle. There is also some attractive Victorian stained glass.
The church is happily open during the week for visits and for private prayer: a rarity these days in urban London. This should be applauded. The church is the centre of a busy parish life and has a Sunday school. read more