Parish Church Of St Martin

Parish Church of St Martin

This parish church comprises a nave and south aisle dating to the late 13th century, with a chancel from the early 14th century. The west tower was built in the mid-15th century, and the chancel arch was rebuilt at that time. A north aisle and north porch were added in the late 15th century, followed by a south porch built around 1500. The church underwent restorations in 1874 and 1924.

The walls are constructed of flint with ashlar dressings and occasional bonding courses of squared rubble. The roofs are covered with clay tiles, stone slates, and lead.

The chancel contains an early 14th-century east window of three graduated lancets with trefoil cusping, moulded outer label, and segmental rear arch. The north wall has two windows with a blocked 14th-century doorway between them. The south wall contains two 2-light windows. Two squints provide views into the chancel from the nave.

The mid-15th-century west tower is divided into three stages by weathered strings and was heightened later in the 15th century. The west window has three trefoil-headed lights with large quatrefoil tracery in a 2-centred head and a 4-centred hollow-chamfered rear arch. The second stage has a plain single light with a square head. The third stage has casement-moulded belfry windows on each wall, each containing two trefoil ogee-headed lights with a quatrefoil in a pointed head. The lower half of each belfry window is closed by a pierced stone screen decorated with quatrefoils.

The north aisle's north wall contains a large 2-centred window of three cinquefoil-headed lights with vertical tracery beneath a label with square stops. The north doorway has a moulded 4-centred head with mouldings continuing down the jambs to shaped stops. West of this is a square-headed window of two cinquefoil ogee-headed lights under vertical tracery, with a moulded label with return stops. These are late 15th-century openings. The north porch dates from the late 15th century.

The south aisle is 13th-century with a 15th-century window insertion.

The nave has irregular arcades. The north arcade dates from the latter 15th century and consists of two pointed arches, each of two hollow-chamfered orders, springing from an octagonal central pier with moulded cap and hollow-chamfered base. The south arcade has a central pier and a narrow pointed arch west of it from the late 13th century. This central pier is circular with moulded capital and base of Purbeck marble. The adjacent respond to the west is a similar half pier with pointed arch. The pointed eastern arch has considerably greater height and span.

The octagonal font has a straight-sided Purbeck marble bowl with chamfered under-edge and two slightly sunk lancet-headed recesses to each face. The shaped octagonal stem has a chamfered base and sockets for circular shafts. The bowl and base date to around 1200, while the stem dates to the 15th century. Piscinae are located in the chancel and south aisle, dating to the 15th century and around 1500 respectively.

A screen in the tower arch is constructed of oak with a centre opening and a bay on either side in two heights, made in the 16th century with 20th-century additions. A late medieval stair rises in the west tower.

The octagonal oak pulpit has six panelled sides in two heights with moulded framing. The lower panels are plain, while the upper panels are fielded with strapwork, dating to around 1630. The stone base is 20th-century. A sundial above the south porch arch is a rectangular stone slab with Roman numerals, inscribed HC 1631 WM, with a wrought iron gnomon.