Church Of St Martin

The Church of St. Martin is a parish church dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, with substantial alterations in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is constructed of squared and knapped flint with stone and carstone dressings, and has slated roofs. The church comprises a west tower, a four-bay nave and aisles, a north porch used as a vestry, and a two-bay chancel.

The west tower was rebuilt in 1726 by Sir Robert Walpole in memory of his grandfather, and is executed in a Gothick style, potentially influenced by William Kent. The tower has four stages with set-off angle buttresses, a 4-centred arched entrance with bulbous piers, a 4-centred window above with switch tracery divisions concealed behind boarding, a platband with drip mould indentation, and a quatrefoil with boarding above. The bell chamber has two 2-light windows per face, featuring bulbous shafts with quatrefoils in the spandrel and ogee arches with crocketting, with detached drip mould arches above. A battlemented parapet is topped by four crocketted angle spirelets. The tower's angles have set-off buttresses with stone quoins, extending to the bell chamber level.

The north and south faces of the tower feature blank 2-centred arches with detached horizontal drip mouldings. The south aisle has one 18th or 19th century 2-light Perpendicular style window to the east and west, along with three 19th century 3-light straight-headed windows. The north aisle, referencing a 1573 donation, contains one 18th or 19th century 2-light Perpendicular style east window, two 3-light Perpendicular windows retaining some original tracery, and one 3-light east window. Five 2-light switch tracery clerestory windows, matching the tower’s detailing, are present on both the north and south sides. The aisles have limestone parapets, while the clerestory has a carstone cornice – both exhibiting 18th century classical inspiration. The chancel contains a 2-light south window and a 3-light north window, both of Perpendicular style from the 15th or 19th century, with a mid-19th century Decorated style east window.

The interior features 4-bay north and south double hollow chamfered arches on alternate octagonal and quatrefoil piers dating to the 14th century. The chancel arch has trefoil piers and a moulded arch, possibly from the 13th century. An Early English piscina is set within re-cut stonework. 17th century stalls with arm rest figures are present. A four-bay Gothick west family tribune, built in 1726, features quadripartite piers and blank tracery against a gallery front. Numerous Walpole family hatchments are displayed. Box pews remain in the aisles, with some benches in the nave. An Early 19th century Gothick pulpit is accessed by carved stairs. A table tomb monument is located in front of the chancel arch, depicting a figure in mass vestments of a Prior of Cockesford, under an ogee arch head with finials; it is said to have been moved here in 1522. The church is the burial place of Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Oxford, and three subsequent Earls, including Horace Walpole.