Church of St Martin

Church of St Martin

This is a Gothic Revival church constructed of buff-coloured brick with ashlar dressings, set back from the road and roofed in slate with coped verges. The building was erected in the last decade of the 19th century.

The church is L-shaped on plan, comprising a single-storey structure oriented north-west to south-east. The main body is a single-cell nave of five bays with a chancel at its south-east end consisting of a single, shallow bay with a lower ridge. The organ occupies the whole of the north-west end of the nave. A lower three-bay range containing the vestry is positioned at right angles to the south-east corner of the church, built in matching materials and design. A flat-roofed addition dating from the late 20th century on the south-west side provides access into the church and connects to adjacent school buildings.

The principal south-east elevation faces towards the road and features offset brick buttresses with ashlar copings at the corners, with further buttresses defining the bays. The chancel bay is lower and breaks forwards with a cruciform window of plain and coloured glass. The taller gabled bay of the nave has a small lancet to the apex and a cruciform finial. Minor detailing in contrasting dressed stone is employed throughout. The vestry range to the right is built in matching style with window and door openings flanked by buttresses. The left-hand bay has an entrance door with a rectangular fanlight and a chamfered hood mould with plain labels; the middle bay has a mullioned and transomed window; and the window in the right-hand third bay has been replaced with a pair of doors. The side and rear elevations display the same detailing with mullioned and transomed windows. The north-east elevation of the vestry range has a chamfered hood mould above its window and a decorative metal finial to the apex of the gable.

The interior of the church is simple, with walls finished in painted plaster and minimal decoration. Over the nave is a roof of scissor-braced and collared principal rafters carried on timber brackets. The pointed chancel arch features slender roll moulding rising to small foliate capitals.

The most distinctive feature of the interior is the pipe organ of 1876. Its chamber occupies the whole of the north-west end of the church. The organ has a painted panelled case, probably of oak, with a moulded cornice and dogtooth frieze. The central console comprises 34 speaking stops located in side panels, with three keyboards and pedals. The console carries the inscription: MALEY, YOUNG & OLDKNOW - LONDON N1. The organ contains nearly 2000 pipes. The front pipes which rise above the screen are decorated with coloured stencilling, typical of the High Victorian style, while the remainder of the pipework is housed in the rear chamber.

A doorway at the southern end of the nave leads through to the lobby entrance, the vestry and lavatories. The interior of the vestry is plain.

The special interest of the church lies primarily in the survival of the substantially intact organ by Maley, Young and Oldknow.