Former Church Of St Martin

The Former Church of St Martin is a late 13th-century building that has been repurposed as an agricultural store. It features a 17th-century porch and was restored in 1983-1984, maintaining most of its original structure, with only slight alterations to the porch. The church is constructed of sandstone rubble with a gable-ended roof made of Delabole slate.

The layout is a simple rectangular plan that does not separate the nave from the chancel. The original windows remain intact, including single light cusped lancets on the south side and a three-light lancet with pointed arched heads at the east end, with the central light being taller. The south porch, located to the left of the center, originally had an elliptical arched wooden lintel for the outer doorway, which has been rebuilt in brick. The south doorway features a round-headed ovolo-moulded stone arch from the 17th century, with a studded plank door. At the west gable end, there is a restored stone bellcote topped with a ball finial and a wrought iron cross, and the walls have irregularly spaced putlog holes.

Inside, the church has an undecorated common rafter wagon roof, which may not be original but likely dates before 1600, and it was previously plastered. Above the timbers, there are rough pegged wooden boards that line the space beneath the slates. The wall plates are crenellated, and the windows have deep internal splays with dressed quoins. The interior walls are covered with old plaster and limewash, but there are no surviving internal fittings.

This church originally served the ancient parish of Broad Nymet, which was only 42 acres in size before being absorbed into North Tawton. Unaltered small Early English churches are rare, and it is likely that the change of use has contributed to the preservation of this building.