Parish Church Of St Martin

The parish church of St Martin is a building with a long history, incorporating elements from the 13th century onwards, and located on the north side of Main Road in Winterborne St Martin.

The church’s origins lie in the 13th century, with reused stonework visible in the north arcade piers. The chancel and west tower date from the 15th century, while the north arcade was rebuilt in the 16th century. The south wall of the nave was reconstructed in the 19th century, and a new south porch was added during the same period. The church underwent restoration work between 1896 and 1907.

The building is constructed from Portland rubble and dressed stone, with slate roofs. The chancel features diagonal buttresses at the corners and a central three-stage buttress on the south wall. The east window, dating back to the 15th century, is composed of three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery within a two-centred head, finished with a label. The north and south walls each have two similar 15th-century windows, but with only two lights each. A south doorway has hollow chamfered jambs and a pointed head. The south wall of the nave has been rendered externally and includes three two-stage brick buttresses and three three-light windows with square heads and labels. The south doorway has a segmental pointed head. The north aisle has a mid-17th-century east window with three square-headed lights. The north wall has three windows: the easternmost is similar to the east window, the restored middle window is of three trefoiled lights in a segmental pointed head, and the western window has three trefoiled lights with a 20th-century head. The west tower, also 15th century, is three stages high, with diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet, pinnacles, and gargoyles. A stair turret was added to the north side later in the 15th century. The west window has three trefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a pointed head with a label. The second stage has small rectangular windows on the east and west walls. The bell chamber has windows with two trefoiled lights and tracery in a pointed head with a label on each wall; the north wall window is obscured by the stair turret. The south porch has an outer archway with moulded jambs and a pointed head.

Inside, the tower arch has three moulded orders, with the inner and outer orders springing from jamb shafts with moulded caps and bases. The north arcade consists of three bays with octagonal piers and semi-octagonal responds, featuring moulded caps and bases that rest on early 13th-century sub-bases. The caps support round arches of a single stop-chamfered order. The nave roof has a 15th-century trussed rafter design with curved braces and moulded ribs and bosses. The north aisle has a lean-to roof dating from the 16th century. The chancel arch is two-centred and continuous, dating from the 20th century. Features include a late 12th-century font with a square Purbeck marble bowl, containing five rounded-headed panels with central and subsidiary shafts. There is an early 17th-century oak pulpit with a moulded cornice and panelled base, a 17th-century communion rail and table, and 18th- and 19th-century stone and marble monuments in the nave, including those commemorating T Masterman, Mary his wife, and members of the Richards, Guppy, and Hawkins families – the latter signed by Raggett of Weymouth.