Trinity Theatre Clocktower

The Grade II*-listed former church, now Trinity Theatre, serves as a cultural hub in Tunbridge Wells. NLHF-funded renovations restored the tower’s interior and clock mechanism while enhancing visitor engagement through interpretation. A vertical journey leads through the clock’s working mechanisms to a new rooftop viewing platform. At first floor, two bridges connect existing cantilevered stone stairways, linking the 1m-thick herringbone brick walls. Repurposed Victorian floor grilles form balustrades within a new painted steel structure. A timber stair ascends from first to third floor, passing stained-glass windows into the clocktower volume. A 14m-high powder-coated steel spiral staircase then leads to the roof, with intermediate viewing points offering panoramic vistas. Conservation efforts restored the historic clock mechanism, including its gears and 7m-long spindle, undertaken by Smiths of Derby, its original installers. An intermediary level provides interpretation space and a close view of the original bell. Heritage elements like floorboards and brickwork were carefully preserved. Construction posed logistical challenges, as work was completed while keeping the theatre operational and technical spaces within the tower intact.