Church Of St Martin

The Church of St Martin is a parish church of Anglican worship, dating back to the 12th century, with alterations in the 13th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and a restoration in 1888. It comprises a west tower, a nave south porch, and a chancel. The church is constructed of rubble stone with ashlar facing on the tower, and has a plain tiled roof with raised, coped verges. The west tower, likely from the 12th century, is short and broad, with two stages and flat clasping buttresses, a plain parapet, and short pinnacles. It features paired single-light windows with semi-circular heads, a west door with a moulded, four-centred surround, and a polygonal projecting stair turret to the north-east. A plaque on the south side bears the inscription "William Britten Church Warden 1731," potentially referencing alterations to the tower. The nave has two two-light casement windows with hollow-chamfered mullions and surrounds, with significant restoration on the north side, and reused Roman bricks also on the north side. The south porch is projecting and gabled, with a four-centred doorway under a dripmould featuring carved head stops, and a scratch dial on the east jamb. The chancel incorporates 19th-century paired lancet windows and a three-light east window in a Decorated style. The nave and chancel are aligned slightly differently from the tower. Inside, the south door is from the late 16th to early 17th century, featuring a studded plank door with strap hinges and a reserved chamfer moulding with stops and a four-centred head. The round-headed, chamfered tower arch leads to a pointed chancel arch, the lower part of which is stop-chamfered and projects, possibly to have once supported a rood loft. The nave roof is late medieval, with plain rafters, high collars, and no ridge. A 19th-century Gothic-style pulpit is also present. A late 12th or 13th-century font is constructed of ashlar, with a square bowl and base, chamfered sides, a thick roll moulding around the waist, and a square plinth. Monuments are present, including a stone tablet dedicated to Elizabeth Ash (died 1759) with a semi-circular head, and four monuments to the Ward family (Richard died 1786, Richard died 1763, Francis died 1743 and Anny died 1723), executed in classical and baroque styles and contained within aedicular surrounds, one with an open pediment and another with an enriched surround. A classical tablet commemorates Deborah Ash (died 1769) with an open pediment. A damaged monument to the Ward family (dated 1770) by Ford of Bath features a marble sculpture of a weeping woman resting on an urn, accompanied by a weeping willow to the left and an obelisk to the right; the inscribed obelisk ground is now missing.