Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin

Parish church on the north side of Witcham High Street. The building comprises a 13th-century west tower, part of the nave arcade and chancel, with a 14th-century nave. Major restorations occurred in 1691 (evidenced by dated brick in the tower) and in the 19th century. The structure features field and rubblestone walls with limestone and clunch dressings, red brick restoration work, and a plain tiled and slate roof with end parapets and gable crosses.

The plan consists of a west tower, nave with late north and south aisles, and chancel. The west tower is 13th-century in origin, though much of the wall was rebuilt in 1691, with a 20th-century north-west buttress. It has three stages with a brick embattled parapet and three-stage diagonal buttressing incorporating reused limestone dressings. The 13th-century west lancet window features hollow moulding and a deeply splayed rear arch; similar windows appear in the second stage and bell stage.

The nave is of 13th-century origin but was rebuilt in the 14th century when the aisles were added. The original gable of the 13th-century nave roof remains visible in the west wall. The clerestory has three windows on each side, each containing two trefoil lights. The south aisle has at its west end a partly-rebuilt 13th-century lancet window. Two reset coupled lancets appear in the south wall, similar to those at Coveney. The walls are of fieldstone with red brick to the upper courses.

The south porch is 13th-century in origin, though the walls are probably 15th-century with a 17th-century roof. The buttressing employs dressed limestone; the fieldstone walls support a plain tiled gable roof with brick sawtooth eaves cornice. The gable end wall is red brick with a reset 13th-century outer arch of dressed limestone. A two-centred arch of two chamfered orders rests on half-octagonal columns with label and mask stops; the inner arch is two-centred with a single chamfered order.

The chancel has fieldstone walls and limestone dressings. The south wall contains a single lancet and two 15th-century restored windows in square heads. The 19th-century east window replaces earlier work, though evidence for 13th-century lancets, probably graduated, remains visible internally and externally. The north wall has two 13th-century lancets and a blocked 13th-century doorway with a two-centred single chamfered arch.

The north aisle has three windows of 13th and 14th-century date. One features two lights in a two-centred arch with Y-tracery; two have five trefoil lights in two-centred arches with reticulated tracery to the spandrel. The north doorway, like the south doorway, has a two-centred single chamfered arch.

Interior: The 13th-century west tower arch is two-centred with two chamfered orders and a label. The nave arcade comprises five bays on the south side and four on the north. The arches are two-centred with two chamfered orders, similar to the 13th-century tower arch, though the piers are 14th-century. The 19th-century nave roof is of tie-beam and collar-rafter type with short bracing. The jackposts to the tiebeams are carried on original carved corbels. The chancel roof is 19th-century. The 14th-century chancel arch is two-centred with two chamfered orders on half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals and splayed bases.

A double piscina in the south wall has each bay with cinquefoil cusping to a two-centred arch. The early 18th-century communion rail features twisted balusters of column-on-vase type.

Wall monuments include: on the north side of the chancel, one to Reverend Joseph Layton, died 1771, in limestone with black marble tablets; on the south wall, one to Reverend Richard Taylor, died 1720, in limestone and black marble.

The 16th-century chancel screen is of oak, comprising five bays including a centre entry bay. The closed lower stage has some modern subcusping to the heads, but original centre panels feature waterleaf and mask motifs.

The 15th-century pulpit is of clunch and rare, with three sides containing blank cusped arches and steps to entry on the fourth side.

Some 16th-century pews remain at the west end of the nave, with original benches featuring moulded rails and poppy-head finials to the ends.

The 12th-century font is limestone. It is tapering and square with chamfered corners on a central shaft flanked by four subsidiary columns with moulded capitals and bases. The chamfers each bear a grotesque mask; the sides are carved in low relief with an angel, two dragons, and an eagle.