Church Of St Martin

The Church of St Martin is a parish church located in Sudeley, Charlton Abbotts. It dates back to the 13th century, with possible elements from the 17th century, and was largely rebuilt in 1887, with a vestry added in 1933. The church is constructed from well-squared, coursed stone and features a stone slate roof. It comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, and vestry.

On the south facade, there is a plinth and a buttress to the left, along with a lancet window. The single-storey porch lacks a plinth and has a semi-circular headed opening with a chamfered arris, a wrought-iron gate, and a parapet gable. Inside, there is a similar opening with a boarded door. To the right of the porch are paired lancets with semi-circular heads under an elliptical relieving arch, and a wide buttress at the east end. The eaves are plain and oversailing. The left parapet gable features a bellcote, with a semi-circular head opening and a gable above adorned with trefoiled gablets at the foot, as well as a cross-gablet apex topped with an iron cross finial. A stone cross is present on the east gable. The chancel is slightly lower than the nave and has a plinth and eaves similar to the rear, a lancet window, and an angled corner buttress, with a parapet gable and a cross-gablet apex featuring a stone cross. The east end has three adjoining lancets with a continuous hoodmould.

The north facade mirrors the chancel on the south side, with a buttress to the nave, a plinth, and eaves as on the south side. It also includes paired lancets with an elliptical relieving arch, a projecting vestry with a plinth, and a three-light mullioned window on the left return, along with a chimney and a parapet gable. There is a buttress at the west end of the nave and a round-headed window on the west wall.

Inside, the nave features single arches over paired windows, and a door to the vestry has been cut through a former window. There is an internal plinth on the west wall. The chancel arch is pointed, with moulded caps and bases on the responds. The roof is raftered with high collars. The chancel includes reused 13th-century responds and trefoil heads on the inside of the north and south windows, as well as two aumbries. The east window is framed by attached columns, with moulded arches above and a hoodmould with carved stops. The wooden pulpit is semi-octagonal with panelled sides, and there is a 13th-century tub font on a clustered column base. Two early 19th-century marble wall monuments and the Decalogue on two boards are located on the west wall. The west wall is likely from the 13th century, although the gable was raised in 1887, and the porch may date from the 17th century. The church was in a ruinous state in the 18th century.