Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin

Parish church dating from the 13th to 16th centuries, restored in 1866 by Ewan Christian. The building is constructed in dressed stone and ashlar with ashlar dressings, coursed rubble walls, and slate roofs. It comprises a west tower with tower chamber, nave, chancel, and south porch.

The architectural detailing throughout includes deep chamfered and moulded plinths, a moulded eaves band, crenellated parapets, and coped east gables with crosses.

The west tower dates to the 14th century and has two stages. It is articulated by two string courses and an eaves band adorned with eight gargoyles. Eight crocketed pinnacles rise from the parapet, and diagonal buttresses with two setoffs reinforce the structure. The first stage has three stair lights to the south and a pointed doorway to the west with moulded and chamfered reveal and hood mould. Above this sits a restored 14th-century triple lancet with moulded mullions, coved and chamfered reveal, hood mould, and mask stops. The second stage features four 14th-century double lancet bell openings with panel tracery, moulded reveals, and hood moulds.

The nave has four bays with diagonal buttresses at the west end and four intermediate buttresses, each with two setoffs. Single gargoyles rise from each side. The north side displays four crocketed pinnacles and, to the east, a 16th-century round-headed triple lancet with splayed mullions in a coved and chamfered square-headed reveal. A four-centred arched moulded doorway opens to the west. The south side has one pinnacle with the remains of two others. A porch stands to the west, and to the east are three triple lancets matching those on the north side.

The chancel comprises two bays with a blank north side. The east end has two pairs of corner buttresses with two setoffs each. The rebuilt east end contains a 19th-century triple lancet with intersecting tracery and splayed mullions in a chamfered and rebated reveal with hood mould. The south side has a restored 14th-century triple lancet with intersecting tracery, splayed mullions, and chamfered reveal with hood mould and mask stops. To the east is a 15th-century triple lancet with panel tracery, splayed mullions, and similar reveal and hood mould.

The south porch is 19th-century work in 13th-century style, with two diagonal buttresses and two setoffs. It features a moulded and chamfered doorway with hood mould and mask stops, and a coped gable with cross. The roof is arch-braced with ashlar pieces.

The late 13th-century south doorway has a chamfered and roll-moulded surround flanked by chamfered and moulded bases resembling buttresses. The inner reveal bears a simple incised pattern. The tower arch dates to the 13th century with a chamfered and roll-moulded head dying into matching responds with broach stops at the foot. The tower chamber contains a four-centred arched tower door and a blocked square-headed west doorway.

The nave has at its east end a single rectangular niche on each side. A 19th-century roof with curved braces to collars and short strutted kingposts features moulded brackets and ashlar pieces. The chancel opening head has a stud and plaster partition. A carved and painted rood with foliate bosses sits on a bressummer. The north side has a re-set 13th-century corbel forming a credence. The south side has a small pointed-arched piscina to the east. The chancel roof is 19th-century with scissor braces, moulded brackets.

Fittings include a Romanesque tub font with interlaced arcading featuring round piers, scallop capitals, and moulded heads, set upon a later octagonal base and stem. A 19th-century octagonal timber pulpit incorporates inset late 16th-century Flemish relief panels with inscription and Renaissance borders, mounted on an ashlar base. A desk-type lectern dates to 1893, and a carved timber eagle lectern on turned stem to 1918. Cove and roll-moulded oak benches from the 18th and 19th centuries include one incorporating a fragment of re-used 17th-century carving. An unusual painted Royal Arms from 1707 to 1714, altered for George I, survives.

Monuments comprise a brass of 1668 to Nicholas Browne, a war memorial brass by Herbert Wauthier of 1918, a Roll of Honour for 1914 to 1918, and three 20th-century brasses.