Church Of St Martin

The Church of St Martin is a church dating from the 15th century, with an earlier tower. It is constructed of ironstone rubble, squared and coursed, with a slate roof covering the chancel, nave, vestry and porch.

The chancel, of two bays, has two restored 15th-century windows to the south, one to the north, and a restored 15th-century window to the east. A small 15th-century priest’s door to the south has a moulded arch and a later wood door. A vestry of later date adjoins the north side of the nave, featuring a wood-panelled door. Hood moulds and label stops are present over the windows and doors, with coping to the gables and quoins to the angles.

The aisled nave is of three bays and lacks a clerestory. It has three restored 15th-century windows to the south, one at the east and one at the west, and three windows to the north, including one 14th-century window at the west. The windows display hood moulds and carved label stops. A pointed, triple-moulded arch with a hood mould leads to a north door, fitted with a later two-leaf wood-panelled door. The roof has coped gables. A porch to the south has a moulded door surround with a wood plank door, a hood mould, and a coped gable with kneelers. Small, square-headed windows of two lights flank the porch. The tower, to the west, is of three storeys. On the first stage, a pointed lancet window, chamfered and with a hood mould—likely 14th century—is visible. The second stage has a similar lancet to the south and a clock face to the west. The third stage, slightly set back, has three 14th-century sandstone windows with Reticulated tracery, all with hood moulds. Angle buttresses are present at the corners, and a corbel table with carved faces sits at the top stage. The building stands on a stone plinth.

Inside, the chancel window to the east is surmounted by a hood mould with carved foliage label stops. The roof is 19th century and supported by carved foliage corbels. A 14th-century piscina is set into the south wall, featuring cusping. The 15th-century chancel arch is chamfered and has polygonal respond shafts below capitals. The four-bay double-chamfered arcade of the nave has 15th-century polygonal piers on plinths, with responds to the west wall and chancel. The tower arch is slightly off-centre and double-chamfered beneath a hood mould. The nave roof is largely 19th and 20th century restoration, with some reused 15th-century beams in the aisles. A moulded pointed arch with a hood mould leads to the porch, containing a two-leaf wood door of ten panels. The arch to the outer door is moulded and chamfered. The floor at the east end of the chancel is decorated with 19th-century polychrome marbles and malachite, reputed to be a gift from Russia. There are 20th-century choir stalls. The pulpit, carved by villagers in 1899, and 19th-century pews are also present. 19th-century stained glass is found in two chancel windows and the west wall tower. A series of 17th, 18th, and early 19th-century memorial tablets, dedicated to the Clarke family and carved by Cox of Daventry, are set in the walls of the chancel and nave. A late medieval corbel is set into a wall, likely reset, and a simply moulded stone font is of a later date.