Church Of The Martyrs

The Church of the Martyrs is a church built between 1889 and 1890 by Ewan Christian for the Harris family. It is constructed of red brick with stone dressings and features a Westmorland slate roof with stone-coped gables, designed in the Early English style. The church includes an east end apse, a nave with a north transept, a narrow northern aisle, and a wider south aisle. The west end has an entrance lean-to and a baptistery apse. There is a southeast tower topped with a pyramidal spire. The apse features narrow lancet windows, while the north transept has a paired lancet window with a roundel above. The north aisle contains 3-light mullion and transom windows. The south tower consists of three stages, with occasional lancets on the lower stages and a polygonal stair projection to the east, leading to triple lancet openings in the bell chamber and the spire above. The south aisle has lancets, and the west end has a doorway within a moulded arch at the end of the lean-to, which continues with lancets around the baptistery apse. Above this is a west window with four lancets and a roundel above.

Inside, the eastern apse features a wooden vaulted roof that rises from stone shafts and corbels, with panelling below. The central reredos displays a moulded relief of Christ in Glory holding a chalice, accompanied by a kneeling knight and mother and child. There are carved chancel fittings, including choir stalls, an organ screen, and a pulpit. The stained glass in the apse windows has been rearranged, and there is additional stained glass in the south windows. The boarded keel-shaped nave roof rises from a cove and is supported by curved braces on stone corbels. The nave arcades are made of moulded brick on round stone columns with octagonal capitals. The nave and south aisles contain pews. The organ screen at the head of the south aisle features panelling with memorial inscriptions dedicated to members of the Harris family of Westcotes and their contributions to the church. The west arcade leads to a narthex with a baptistery that includes a stone tub font on colonnettes.

The Church of the Martyrs is noted for its harmonious design, finely detailed interior, and the preservation of many fittings. It forms a significant group with the adjacent vicarage.