Church Of St Martin

TL 86 NE FORNHAM ST. MARTIN THE STREET

2/27 Church of St. Martin 14.7 55 II* -

Parish church. C12 and later, restored 1846. Nave, chancel, north porch, north vestry, and west tower; south aisle added in 1870. Rubble flint, with traces of external render; freestone quoins and dressings;Slate roofs. The nave has coursed rubble, partly herringbone on the north side, and some reused Roman tiles; over the vestry door and to the east side of the porch, remains of blocked Norman windows with chevron ornament to surrounds. 2-light C19 windows in Perpendicular style on north of nave. Fine early C16 red brick porch with diaper patterns in blue headers: diagonal buttresses; crow-stepped gable; above doorway, an empty niche with hood-mould; in the western buttress, a holy water stoup; blocked 2-light windows on each side; multiple mouldings to the arched doorway. Tower in 4 stages, the base and the crenellated parapet both decorated with a chequerwork of stone and black knapped flint. Diagonal buttresses at the west end faced in freestone. Gargoyles are spaced along the cornice below the parapet, and each face of the top stage has a high 2-light window with transome and cusping. The stair turret projects on the south side. The south aisle, almost as large as thenave, and separately roofed, was built in 1870, replacing an earlier south aisle dating from 1846. This is in the Perpendicular style. The interior of the nave and chancel mainly reflects the restoration of 1846, and all fittings are of that date. The nave is high, with a coved cornice and plastered barrel-vaulted roof; fleurons on the capitals of the chancel arch have been picked out in colour. Fine C15 octagonal font: blank shields in roundels alternating with traceried panels. Both east windows contain late Victorian memorial stained glass. C17 altar rails with turned balusters. Part of the base of the rood-screen seems to have been reused as a box-pew in the chancel. 2 funeral hatchments on the south wall of the chancel. A feature of the church are the 2 misericords built into the Victorian lectern and reading-desk, one showing St. Martin dividing his cloak with a beggar, the other the martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket. These have been brought from elsewhere.

Listing NGR: TL8523366958