Archway Forming Entrance To St Martin'S Churchyard

The archway forming the entrance to St Martin's churchyard was built in 1859 for Archdeacon Stonehouse of Owston Ferry and his sister-in-law Frances Sanders. It is made of limestone ashlar and designed in the Gothic style. The structure features a crenellated stepped tripartite gateway with a central carriage arch, flanked by lower pedestrian arches and short lower wing walls. Both the east and west sides have a chamfered plinth and buttresses with offsets, which support pointed chamfered arches adorned with hoodmoulds and head stops. The east side, facing the street, displays a worn dedication inscription in Gothic lettering above the arches, along with a pair of armorial relief tablets in the spandrels of the central arch: one shield bears the arms of Stonehouse impaling Sanders, while the other is a lozenge with the arms of Frances Sanders. The archway is topped with ridge-coped crenellations. The pedestrian entrances are fitted with ornate Gothic-style cast-iron gates that include dog-bars, decorative panels, and finials. William Stonehouse and Frances Sanders were both significant local benefactors; in 1840, Stonehouse funded the church porch, which is in a similar style to the churchyard archway, while Frances Sanders contributed to the church and provided the Market Place Lamp and the Almshouses in Bagsby Lane.