Church Of St Martin

ST 76 NW NORTH STOKE

4/149 CHURCH OF ST MARTIN

1.2.56 II*

G.V.

Parish Church (Anglican). C12, altered C13 and C15 - C16; restored 1888. West tower, nave south porch and chancel. Rubble, ashlar to the tower; plain tiled roof with coped raised verges. The west tower is probably C12, short and broad, of 2 stages with flat clasping buttresses, a plain parapet and short pinnacles; paired single light windows with semi-circular heads; west door in moulded and 4-centre headed surround; polygonal projecting stair turret to north east; on the south side is a plaque which reads "William/Britten/Church/Warden/ 1731" - does this denote the remodelling of the tower? Nave: two 2-light casement windows with hollow chamfered mullions and surrounds; heavily restored on north side; re-used Roman bricks on north side. South porch; projecting and gabled with a 4-centred doorway under a dripmould with carved head stops; scratch dial on east jamb. Chancel: C19 paired, plain lancet windows and C19 3-light east window in a Decorated style. The nave and chancel are on a slightly different alignment from the tower. Interior. The south door is late C16 - early C17; studded plank door with straphinges; the surround has a reserved chamfer moulding with stops and a 4-centred head. The tower arch is round- headed and chamfered. The chancel arch is pointed; the lower part is stop- chamfered and the top projects - possibly to carry a now missing rood loft. The nave roof is late mediaeval; plain rafters, high collars and no ridge. C19 pulpit in a Gothic style. Late C12 or C13 font: ashlar; square bowl and base with chamfered sides and a thick roll moulding around the waist, square plinth. Monuments. Nave - south side: Elizabeth Ash, died 1759, inscribed stone tablet in a moulded surround with a semi-circular head; four Ward family Monuments, Richard died 1786, Richard died 1763, Francis died 1743 and Anny died 1723, classical and baroque, inscribed square tablets in aedicular surrounds, one with an open pediment and one with an enriched surround. Nave - north side: Deborah Ash died 1769, classical tablet with an open pediment. Tower-damaged monument to the Ward Family, 1770, by Ford of Bath; marble; weeping woman resting on an urn, with a weeping willow to the left and an obelisk to the right: the inscribed obelisk ground is now missing. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England : North Somerset and Bristol, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST7037469116