Holy Trinity is the Parish Church of Skipton. There was no trace of a church in the Domesday Survey but it is thought that it was Robert de Romille, who had been given the honour of Skipton by William the Conqueror, who originally founded the church at the same time as he built the first Skipton Castle. The first mention of the church was in 1120. In his “History of the Antiquities of Craven,” Dr Whitaker, mentions, “in the year 1120, this church, with the chapel at Carleton and village of Embsay, formed the original endowment of the priory of Embsay, by William de Meschines and Cecilia his wife.” Cecilia was the daughter of Robert de Romille.

           The original church would have been a small building. It was not until the 14^th century that any enlargement occurred, when a tower was probably added together with aisles to the north and south which were also extended westwards to join the original building to the walls of the tower. In the latter part of the 15^th century the church was further enlarged with the addition of the choir and aisles. In 1483, on his accession to the throne, Richard III, formerly Lord of Castle and Honour of Skipton, ordered the payment of £20 towards repair of the parish church.

            In the time of the Civil War the church was badly damaged by Parliamentary forces. It was repaired by Lady Anne Clifford even before she started repairing her ancestral home , Skipton Castle. Her records show, “In the Summer of 1655 whilst there she was at Appleby Castle, at her own charge she caus’d the steeple of Skipton Church to be built up againe, which was pulled down in the time of the late Warrs, and leaded it over and then repaired some part of the Church and new Glaz’d the Windows, in every of which she put quaries, stained with a yellow Colour, viz, A P, and under them the year 1655…”

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