Church Of Saint Martin

Church of Saint Martin, Little Ness

A chapel of ease originally built in the late 12th century with 15th or early 16th century alterations. The building was restored and enlarged with the addition of a porch and vestry in 1878. It is constructed of dressed red sandstone with ashlar dressings and has a machine tile roof.

The church comprises a nave and chancel in one structure, with a south porch and north vestry. The walls have a battered plinth to east and west, and are finished with parapeted gable ends with plain copings. An integral gabled ashlar bellcote stands to the west, featuring two trefoiled ogee openings with pilasters to the sides and gables above, and a cross at the apex.

On the south side are two identical windows of the 15th or 16th century (left) and circa 1878 (right), each with three cinquefoil-hooded lights with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and straight-sided arched heads. A restored round-arched south doorway to the left has one order of shafts with scalloped capitals, chevron ornament to the outer arch, and a hoodmould with carved head above. The doorway is fitted with a 19th century nail-studded boarded door. The gabled timber-framed porch has a chamfered stone plinth, cinquefoil arched entrance, brackets supporting wall plates, and trefoil-headed side lights, with an open truss inside.

The north side features a central buttress with chamfered offsets and a 19th century window of three cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and straight-sided arch. The east end has a window of three cinquefoil-headed lights (the centre one ogee-shaped) with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and a hoodmould with carved heads as stops. The west end contains a 19th century double-chamfered lancet with a hoodmould.

The vestry has a chamfered plinth, lean-to roof and an integral lateral stone stack with chamfered offsets and cornice to chamfered cap. It features a square window to the front of two trefoil-headed lights with hollow-chamfered reveals, a window to the east of three trefoil-headed lights with steps down to a chamfered-arched crypt doorway below, and a chamfered-arched doorway to the west with double-chamfered reveals, moulded arch, hoodmould with lozenge-shaped stops, and boarded door with strap hinges.

The interior has a probably 17th century four-bay roof with moulded wooden wall plate. The roof features arched-braced collar trusses with continuous slightly ogee chamfer. The second truss from the west has 19th century cusping and hammerbeams with cusped brackets. The third truss from the west has a billet-ornamented tie-beam, collar and struts, with a painted wooden rood of 1927 with canopy. Collar trusses stand against the east and west walls. There are three moulded purlins to each side. All windows except the east window have chamfered rear arches. The north doorway to the vestry has a chamfered arch, hoodmould with lozenge-shaped stops, and boarded door with strap hinges. A blocked 12th century round-arched doorway or window is visible to the left (indicated by straight joints).

Fittings include an early 16th century German triptych set in late 19th century carved wooden frames. A 17th century or late 19th century altar rail in later seventeenth-century style features large turned balusters and a moulded handrail. A late 19th century eagle lectern and a late 19th century Jacobean-style polygonal wooden pulpit with carved panels are present. The church contains late 19th century wooden pews and a 12th century circular red sandstone pulpit with rope moulding dividing the tapered bowl and base, fitted with a 19th century iron-bound wooden cover. A pair of 18th century brass chandeliers stands in the chancel. Medieval floor tiles are reset in the sanctuary and porch. Some fragments of 15th century stained glass remain in the north window, with 19th century stained glass in other windows.

Saint Martin's has always been a chapelry of Baschurch. A motte (County A.M. number 1100) lies to the south-east of the church.