Church of St Martin

Church of St Martin

Parish church situated on Langtoft Road with origins dating from the 11th century, substantially rebuilt and enlarged through the mid 12th century, with further work in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The tower was reconstructed in 1648 and the building underwent major restoration in 1855 and 1857 under Edward Browning.

The church is constructed from coursed and squared limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings. Roofs are covered with Collyweston slate and finished with stone coped gables. The building comprises a western tower, nave, north aisle, chancel and south porch.

The three-stage tower features corner buttresses, a bell-moulded plinth, chamfered string courses and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. The belfry stage contains two-light openings with ogee heads to the lights and a quatrefoil above. On the south side of the tower is a narrow pointed light to the middle stage with a triangular hood bearing reused pelta decoration. Above this are a clockface and a stone inscribed "IH 1648", with below it a short verse reading "Was ever such a thing since the creation, A new steeple built in the time of vexation." Another datestone on the parapet records the 1855 rebuild. The west wall has a three-light window with panel tracery and a lancet above.

The mid-12th century north aisle contains two-light windows dating from the 14th century, one to the west and two to the north, all with cusped ogee heads. A reused round-headed doorway with moulded imposts and chamfered head is set in the north wall. A 19th-century vestry with a two-light window in 14th-century style stands to the east.

The chancel north wall contains two late 13th-century windows with pierced trefoil heads, whilst the east wall features a contemporary three-light window with intersecting tracery. The south side has a continuously moulded doorway and two two-light windows with quatrefoils. The south wall of the nave displays an elaborate stepped plinth with a lancet having a quatrefoil-decorated head and a triplet of lancets.

The blocked south doorway is 11th-century, round-headed with engaged shafted reveals, chamfered imposts bearing billet moulding, and a single order of roll moulding to the head. On the eastern impost is a low-relief carving of a twining dragon, with jews harp motifs carved below the imposts on either side. Above stands a relief cross of Tau form, probably originally possessing an upward arm. The gabled south porch dates from the late 13th century and features round shafted reveals, annular capitals, and two hollow chamfered orders, with side benches. The inner doorway is mid-12th century, with double nook-shafted reveals having scalloped capitals and three orders of chevron moulding. Its tympanum is decorated with low-relief zigzag ornament and supported on roll-moulded corbels bearing crosses saltire and abstract leaves. Above is a 14th-century niche with moulded surround and cusped head, now containing a 20th-century wooden figure.

The interior features a three-bay mid-12th century north arcade with round piers, scalloped capitals and square abaci, each with a single order of chevron moulding and pelta-moulded hoods. The pointed tower arch has octagonal reveals with orders of reused 12th-century chevron and pelta moulding, topped by a single lancet above. The chancel arch has 12th-century circular and shafted reveals, now with a 13th-century roll-moulded and pointed head.

In the south wall of the chancel stands a triple sedilia dating from the mid-13th century, featuring circular shafts and moulded heads, alongside a contemporary trefoil-headed piscina. A 19th-century roof features large angel supporters and moulded stone corbels. Fittings include 19th-century stained glass, 19th-century pieces including a brass candelabrum, and an early 13th-century octagonal font with 19th-century base. The font bowl is decorated with a variety of relief motifs including concentric circles, quatrefoils, zigzags and waves, and is accompanied by an elaborately carved openwork 19th-century cover.

Monuments include a brass wall plaque in the north aisle to Francis Fordham (died 1641), bearing an epitaph and shield, and at the east end of the north aisle an early 18th-century marble wall monument to Richard Walburge and others, formed as a broken segmented pediment with cartouche supported on Ionic pillars, the base decorated with skulls, acanthus, leaves and a cherub.