Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin, Brasted

The Church of St Martin is a cruciform church with nave aisles to north and south, transepts to north and south, a chancel with a south chapel (now a parish room) and north vestry, and a west tower. It is built of rubble with stone dressings and has tile roofs.

The earliest visible fabric dates to the 13th century, comprising the arcades, which may have been added to an earlier church. The tower is probably of the late 13th century. The north transept, known as the Stocket chapel, was added around 1320. The tower was remodelled in the late medieval period. In 1864-5, the entire church was extensively restored and externally largely rebuilt by the architect Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), which included the addition of the south chancel chapel and north vestry. Following a severe fire in 1989, the church was reroofed, partially rebuilt, and reordered by Peake Short and Partners, with a clerestory of round openings added in 1991-2.

The exterior is dominated by Waterhouse's work of 1864-5, with the exception of the medieval west tower. The tower is a three-stage embattled structure of the 14th century, remodelled and heightened in the later middle ages. It features small late Perpendicular windows with depressed heads in the upper stages. The lower stage has very heavy buttresses added after the tower was built, including central buttresses on the north and west faces. The western buttress incorporates a tunnel-vaulted west porch. The west door is chamfered. The south chapel, south transept, and nave aisles feature large uncusped windows under gabled dormers on the aisles, typical of Waterhouse's work, with a clerestory of many round windows above. The north transept displays reticulated tracery copying the medieval arrangement and has an east door by Waterhouse. A 19th-century north vestry is prominent, featuring a chimney. The chancel north wall contains 13th-century style lancets by Waterhouse, replacing a different medieval lancet. The east window is Perpendicular in style, copying the medieval original.

Internally, the introduction of the clerestory and new roofs make the church very light. Three-bay north and south nave arcades of the early 13th century survive, with short round piers and double chamfered arches, partially rebuilt. A similar arch leads into the north transept. Engaged shafts flank either side of the 15th-century style east window. The two-bay chancel arcade features early 13th-century style piers by Waterhouse, now rebuilt, with a piscina set into the east respond. The nave roof of 1991-2 is a faceted barrel vault of laminated timber trusses, boarded behind. The chancel roof follows the design of Waterhouse's roof, with arch-braced trusses on short posts, divided into panels by ribs and beams.

The north chapel largely survived the fire and contains many notable monuments. Its roof is divided into panels with painted decoration. The tower was also undamaged in the fire. A tall 15th-century tower arch with dying chamfered orders rises above a late 13th-century two-light window, now internal.

The 1991-2 work included conversion of the former south chapel and organ chamber into a parish room and the introduction of a kitchen and lavatories.

The principal fixtures include a pulpit of 1623 from St Nicholas, Rochester. A 19th-century font in early 13th-century style features a round bowl on Purbeck marble shafts. Some fragments of old glass have been reset in the south transept. The north transept contains a mid-20th-century Magnificat by James Hogan and Carl Edwards. All other glass is late 20th century, including the south transept east window by John Hayward and the east window by Lawrence Lee.

The church contains very good monuments. In the tower is an early grave slab with a cross. Dorothy Berisford, died 1613, is commemorated by an almost plain tomb chest, and Margarita Seyliard, died 1615, by a simple wall tablet. The north transept contains reclining alabaster figures of Robert Heath, died 1649, and his wife, by Thomas Stanton, dated 1664, with Heath depicted as a judge. John Turton, died 1806, George III's doctor, is commemorated by a Grecian tablet by Sir R Westmacott, as is Mary Turton, died 1810, by the same sculptor. There is a revivalist 17th-century style monument to H. Avray Tipping, died 1933, author of English Homes and a noted writer and garden designer.

The church appears in Domesday Book. An early graveslab with a cross was discovered under the tower. Before the Waterhouse restoration, the chancel contained 12th and early 13th-century windows. The north transept, known as the Stocket chapel, was the private chapel of the lords of Brasted Place until the early 20th century and contains many tombs of residents of that house. Pre-restoration images show a range of medieval windows throughout the church, mostly late medieval, together with a 17th or 18th-century dormer in the nave, probably for a former gallery. The massive buttresses of the tower suggest ongoing structural problems, leading to the external rebuilding by the celebrated architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1865. The church was damaged during World War II, when it lost most of its glass, and restoration was funded by the War Damage Commission. It suffered severe damage in a fire of 1989, when most of the 19th and 20th-century work was largely lost, and was restored again in 1991-2.