Church Of St Martin And St Giles

Church of St Martin and St Giles

This is a parish church dedicated to St Martin, built in 1742 and consecrated in 1743 by Dr Nicholas Claggit. The building is constructed of snecked local stone rubble with slate roofs. It was extensively restored in 1891–92, a restoration largely financed by the Williams family of Werrington Park.

The original 18th-century church comprised a nave, a west tower flanked by two smaller towers, a north transept forming a Morice vault with a gallery above (used by house servants and later by the choir), and a south transept forming a south porch with an external stair to a gallery above. During the 1891–92 restoration, a chancel and organ chamber were added, the vestry accommodation was enlarged, stair turrets were added to the north and south transepts, the galleries were converted into Sunday School rooms, and the interior was reseated.

The exterior is particularly notable for its unusual west front. The west tower has two stages with a prominent battlemented parapet and large crocketted finials, flanked by a battlemented screen wall terminating in two smaller towers, also battlemented with crocketted finials. Set in niches around the towers are ten possibly 17th-century free-standing figures, possibly representing ten of the Apostles, with two further figures towards the east end of the church. The west tower reuses dressed stone, including the crocketted finials, taken from the Medieval church which originally stood close to Werrington Park. The nave has 18th-century round-headed windows with later 19th-century tracery, whilst the 19th-century chancel has Perpendicular windows. The battlemented parapets to the two-storey north and south transepts were remodelled during the 1891 restoration, and circular turretted staircases were added to their west sides.

Set into the east wall of the chancel is a slate ledger stone with kneeling figures in relief, possibly from a monument to the Drake family reset from the earlier demolished church. Also reset is a small relief depicting two naked figures in the gable end above. An unusual headstone of an African servant, Philip Scipio, erected by Lady Lucy Morice (1734), is set on the exterior.

The interior is tall and lofty, with rendered walls and a chancel with freestone dressings. The furnishings and roof date from the 1891 restoration and are simple in style. The church contains an 18th-century pulpit with raised and fielded panels. Of particular architectural interest is an 18th-century font, probably the earliest example of Gothic Revival design (according to Pevsner), possibly by William Kent, who Pevsner suggests may have been responsible for 18th-century additions to Werrington Park. This font has a small bowl decorated with cherubs' heads on a baluster shaft with a moulded base. A Norman font from the earlier church is also present, with its bowl decorated with carved heads at the corners on an octagonal stem with a square base. In the vestry (on the ground floor of the north transept) is a marble heart-shaped plaque to William Morice dated 1688, which was originally attached to a second heart-shaped plaque bearing the Morice arms and was probably part of the monument above the Morice vault. The church contains stained glass memorials to the Coade and Williams families, and stocks dated to around 1797.

Historically, Sir William Morice's demolition of the Medieval church which had stood close to Werrington Park, and the careless manner in which he transferred the churchyard remains, caused considerable outrage among the parishioners. Traditionally, a curse was placed on the Morice family; Sir William died childless, and within 30 years the estate had passed from the family's hands.