Church Of St Martin

SEAMER MAIN STREET TA 08 SW 4/33 (west side) Church of Saint Martin 18.1.67 - I Church. Early C12 nave, chancel and tower lower stages; chancel extended in C15; C15 north aisle, chantry, vestry and south porch; upper stages of tower rebuilt c1840; re-roofed and some restoration 1885-89, by C Hodgson Fowler. Dressed sandstone with stone flag roof. West tower; 4-bay nave and clerestory, north aisle and south porch; chancel with north chantry and vestry. Tower: 3 stages, with battlements over a corbel table, incorporates C12 angle buttresses. 2-light bell openings under round arches to upper stage. Nave: gabled porch with four-centred arched opening with C19 sundial above. South dooway of round arch of two orders with scalloped capitals and roll moulding. C12 or C13 iron-studded oak door with strap and C-hinges, and later reinforcement. Two single-stepped clerestory windows survive on either side of porch, with 3-light replacement windows to right, one C14 with Decorated tracery, the other C19 with intersecting tracery. Pilaster buttresses between windows. On the north side is a 4-centred doorway, and 2-light windows with plain heads. Chancel: C15 2-light window with flat hood mould, and inserted C19 window with intersecting tracery. C19 east window. Fragments of an original sill band of nutmeg moulding are visible on either side of the buttress between the nave and chancel. Nave and chancel are embattled over a corbel table; crocketed pinnacles to nave. Interior: C12 round chancel arch of three orders with scalloped capitals and a form of beakhead and roll moulding to the arch. A rood stair survives in the left pier. C12 deeply-splayed clerestory windows with roll-moulded heads survive above the arcade. Blocked and shortened similar window with shafts in north wall of the chancel above inserted opening to the later chantry. Nave clerestory and string course below altered by C15 insertion of 4-bay arcade of double-chamfered round arches on shafted piers. C15 vestry has pointed tunnel-vaulted roof, 2-light east window and corner fireplace. A portion of the same band of nutmeg moulding visible on the south external wall survives in the south-western corner of the chantry. C12 reset corbels carved as caryatid heads to left and right of altar. A sanctus bell dated 1448, presented by Lady Percy in 1550, is preserved in the vestry. In a north window, fragments of C15 glass depicting two heads. Chancel screen of c1685 presented by Sir John Napier bearing his coat of arms. Verses from Psalm 46 painted on the west wall date from the period in the C19 when the church gallery served as the Village School. Monuments: a C16 brass to Lucy, wife of Sir Henry Gate, in the chantry. Wall monument in chancel to Elizabeth Woodall, d1801, by Chambers of Scarborough. Wall sculpture in high relief in north aisle to Sarah Boutflower, d1810, by J. Theakston 1815.

Listing NGR: TA0149983381