Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin

A parish church located on a foothill with picturesque views over the surrounding vale. The building is predominantly 15th-century in date, with a tower dated 1632 through a datestone. The church underwent significant alterations and restoration in 1836, followed by a new chancel and further restoration in 1873, both carried out by architect J.L. Pearson.

The church is constructed from ashlar and random rubble limestone with coursed rubble marlstone, and is roofed in stone slate with lead covering to the nave. The plan comprises a nave with south aisle, a west tower, north porch, and a chancel with north vestry and organ loft.

The north elevation features a rebuilt nave wall with plain parapet. To the left of the porch stands limestone ashlar with a marlstone plinth and two Perpendicular-traceried windows. To the right, the marlstone masonry displays another Perpendicular-traceried window. The north doorway, dating from the 19th century, is moulded with a round arch and contains a Gothic-strapped door. The north porch itself is a 19th-century parapet-gabled structure with a moulded pointed arch flanked by attached column shafts. It is entered through 19th-century iron gates and has an arched braced collar-truss roof.

The south aisle wall features offset buttressing and an off-centre moulded four-centred arched doorway with plank doors. The fenestration includes a two-light 19th-century pointed window with Perpendicular tracery to the left, three square-headed three-light windows to the right with cinquefoil heads and hoodmoulds, and a three-light window to the left with ogee-headed lights. The west end of the aisle is built of marlstone and is parapet-gabled, with a Perpendicular-traceried window. The east end of the aisle was rebuilt in 1873 with limestone and marlstone banding, also in a parapet-gabled form, and has a Perpendicular-traceried east window.

The west tower rises in three stages and features diagonal offset buttresses and an octagonal corner turret with spirelet. A moulded pointed-arched west doorway with hoodmould provides entry. The three-light west window displays late Perpendicular tracery. The belfry stage contains two-light plate-traceried openings with stone pierced screens. A datestone on the south face of the tower bears the date 1632 and the names THOMAS TRATFORD and THOMAS LONG. A further dated panel within the crenellated parapet also reads 1632. Diagonal-set corner pinnacles surmount the parapet.

The chancel, dating from 1859, is constructed of ashlar with marlstone banding. It features angle buttresses with aedicules on their east faces. The three-light traceried east window has a quatrefoil-panelled sill. The south chancel wall contains plain lancets, as does the north vestry, which is accessed by a pointed-arched doorway with stiff leaf capitals to attached column shafts and is roofed with a catslide roof. The organ loft above the vestry is parapet-gabled.

The interior is limewashed with ashlar dressings throughout. The nave is spanned by a seven-bay Perpendicular tie-beam roof with pierced lancets in the spandrels and carved stone corbels. A five-bay south arcade comprises simple pointed arches on octagonal piers. The aisle has a ribbed tunnel-vaulted roof at the same height as the nave. The large chancel arch of 1859 has attached columns with bold stiff leaf capitals. A pointed-arched niche in the north nave wall sits adjacent to the chancel arch. At high level above the arcade is a Tudor-arched opening, possibly for access to a former roof loft, with remains of a squint visible in the aisle.

The chancel is entirely finished as High Victorian with complete painted decoration by Clayton and Bell dating from 1873. A polychrome-tiled floor and simple wagon roof complete the space. All openings feature attached colonnettes with stiff leaf capitals, including a pair of double sedilia in the south wall, each with a lancet window above. The chancel contains a complete set of contemporary fittings including a gold mosaic reredos by Powell and Son. The nave and aisle contain 19th-century pews, an 18th-century oak pulpit, and a 19th-century octagonal stone font.

Notable monuments on the south aisle wall include a classical monument to Grace Smyth, died 1609, wife of John Smyth (surveyor to the Berkeley family). This features a kneeling figure in contemporary dress within a round-arched niche with enriched entablature and marble Corinthian columns. To its right is a tablet dated 1733 with a broken pediment and urn. The Royal arms of Queen Anne, dated 1709, hang over the south aisle doorway. A Gothick memorial to Reverend Thomas Jones, Perpetual Curate, died 1832, is located beside the chancel arch in the nave, featuring a cinquefoil-headed tablet beneath an ogee crocket-enriched hood.

The chancel contains stained glass by Clayton and Bell, including a distinctive east window typical of their most celebrated work. The west window is by Powell. Additional 19th-century stained glass is present in the east end of the aisle.