Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin

Church. Built 1888-89. Designed by J.A. Chatwin of Birmingham. The building is constructed of yellow brick with red brick banding and window dressings, stone coping to the gables and window surrounds, and a red brick plinth. The roofs are covered in clay tiles.

The plan comprises a 4-bay nave and aisles, with shallow transepts to the eastern 2 bays. The chancel is flanked by a Lady Chapel and organ room, with a polygonal apse to the east. A polygonal Baptistery projects from the west.

The west elevation features a tall gable with a central window of 3 pointed trefoil lancets below cinquefoils. The gable is flanked by lower aisles, and a single-storey Baptistery sits beneath a hipped roof. The south elevation fronts onto the road and has an entrance porch with double wooden doors within a red brick moulded architrave, beneath a gable which is shortened to the right where it meets the aisle. Two groups of 3 lancets with red brick dressings and linked stone gable hoods punctuate this elevation. Four pairs of clerestory rounded trefoil lancets light the taller nave, which has exposed rafter tips and ridge tiles. To the east, gables advance from the aisles, each with a central window containing 3 double pointed trefoil lancets. A lower Lady Chapel to the east has 3 separate lights in stone surrounds. Behind this, the east end features a tall 3-sided apse to the chancel end; each bay has a window with a pair of lancets and a prominent rounded cinquefoil, while the end bay has 3 pointed trefoil lancets and 2 rounded cinquefoils. Stepped buttresses separate each bay, with brick diaper work between the brick banding. The Lady Chapel has a pointed window with a large quatrefoil, a pair of cinquefoils, and three smaller trefoil lights. The north elevation is similar to the south, with a flat roof extension to the east end containing groups of 3 lancets in brick surrounds.

The interior is of considerable spatial and decorative quality. The nave has a wide 4-bay arcade with stone columns bearing moulded capitals and tall pointed arches set in moulded red brick architraves. A brick band runs above the arcade, with clerestory windows to the western 2 bays in brick surrounds. The central and side aisles are laid with red and black diamond pattern tiling. The wooden ceiling features arched brace king post trusses with collars, double purlins, and tie rods on stone corbels. Open back bench pews furnish the nave.

The Baptistery at the west end has a wooden roof with single lancets, including a St. John the Baptist lancet likely by Clayton and Bell. A stone pedestal font with quatrefoil panels stands within. The entrance porch has a scissor truss roof. The wide 2-bay aisles are spanned by curved braces on corbels to the principal rafters. A window by Jones and Willis lights the south aisle. A wide arch opens to the 2-bay transepts, which contain a wall-mounted wooden war memorial. A wooden pulpit with a moulded top-rail is attached to a column at the north east; it features a pair of pointed arches with a slender column to each panel, a stepped and chamfered stone plinth, and stairs with wood balusters and moulded handrail.

The east end is marked by a wide moulded brick arch with a low stone wall and steps leading to the Lady Chapel, which contains coloured glass by Clayton and Bell. A tall central arch on stone piers with a low stone wall opens to the Chancel, which has a roof similar to the nave but with curved wind braces to the purlins. The wooden altar rail features groups of 3 pointed lancets to each panel with intricate foliate spandrels. Three coloured glass windows by Clayton and Bell fill the Chancel apse. The organ is by Alfred Hunter of Clapham.

This is a little-altered church, designed by the distinguished Birmingham architect J.A. Chatwin, and notable for its spatially and decoratively impressive interior.