Boundary Wall, St Martin'S Churchyard

NEW BUCKENHAM

84/0/10023 CHURCH STREET 01-DEC-09 BOUNDARY WALL, ST MARTIN'S CHURCHYARD

GV II Churchyard boundary wall; mid-late C19; built of brick and flint.

DESCRIPTION: The wall encloses the churchyard on four sides with the exception of the west end of the south wall, where the gable end and outshut of the neighbouring house form the boundary with the churchyard; this is not included in the listing. The remainder of the south wall forms the boundary shared with the neighbouring houses and stands over 2m high for much of its length, while the other three sides stand about 1m high. There are cast iron gates in the west and east sides, with the main entrance to the west. The west wall is constructed mainly of flint, with brick at south and north ends and to either side of the entrance. The gates are hung on concrete piers. To the north of the entrance the wall has brick gabled coping, while the length to the south is capped with concrete. The north wall is of brick with flint panels between brick buttresses; the coping is of angled bricks. This coping extends over the east wall, which is constructed mainly of bricks, with some sections containing bricks laid at an angle, roughly coursed, mixed with some flint. The lower half of the south wall is flint between brick piers, the upper half mainly brick with brick coping.

HISTORY: St Martin's Church dates largely to the C15, although some C13 fabric survives. It was restored in 1870 to the designs of W M Fawcett of Cambridge, and it seems reasonable to assume that the boundary wall was either constructed or largely rebuilt at that time, although it appears to represent several different phases of construction or repair. W M Fawcett worked on the restoration or rebuilding of six listed churches in Cambridgeshire and one in West Yorkshire.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The boundary wall to St Martin's churchyard is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It has strong group value with the Grade I listed church, with which it forms a complete ensemble.