Church Of St Martin

Church of St Martin

This is a Grade I listed church with origins in the 12th century, substantially rebuilt and extended over subsequent centuries. The building is constructed of magnesian limestone rubble and ashlar with red plain tile, grey slate and stone slate roofing.

The church follows a cruciform plan, comprising a three-bay nave with clerestory to the north side, a two-bay south aisle, a four-narrow-bay north aisle, a crossing tower with single-bay transepts, a two-bay chancel with north vestry, and a south porch. The 12th-century core was extended with a 13th-century nave and north aisle, followed by an early 14th-century south aisle, porch, transepts, tower and spire. Further additions and alterations were made in the 15th, 18th and 19th centuries, including modifications to the chancel and the addition of the north vestry. The church was substantially restored by the architect Bodley in 1895.

The south porch entrance has a chamfered pointed arch under a hoodmould with face stops. The porch contains stone seats and slit windows to the sides, with an incised shield and other decorative carving to the left wall. It has a stone ribbed roof with a finial at the apex. Inside the porch is an 18th-century fielded panel, and a pointed double door in a double-chamfered surround with roll moulding to the head under a hoodmould. A worn medieval prayer is carved on the right jamb.

The south aisle and transept feature buttresses with offsets and a continuous sill band. To the west of the porch are two two-light pointed windows in double-chamfered surrounds with reticulated tracery. To the east is a straight-headed three-light Perpendicular window. The south aisle and nave have low moulded parapets. The north aisle, which is low, has buttresses with offsets between the bays. The aisle and clerestory contain mainly two-light pointed windows with geometrical tracery to the heads in double-chamfered surrounds; the aisle also has one lancet window and one similar square-headed window. The east window of the clerestory has been lengthened.

The west end has buttresses with offsets to the angles, a plank door under a pointed arch with roll moulding beneath a re-cut hoodmould, and a moulded sill band. A four-light Perpendicular-type window is a 19th-century insertion. The south transept has a three-light south window under a hoodmould, also a 19th-century insertion, with the remains of a canopy of a niche for a statue in the gable. A similar window is to the east side. The north transept features an octagonal stair turret to the west side and a two-light straight-headed north window with reticulated tracery in a triple-chamfered surround.

The crossing tower has a buttress to the north side and a continuous sill band to the bell stage. Two-light bell openings to each side display geometrical tracery to the heads. The tower is topped by a broached spire. The chancel has two-light windows with geometrical tracery; those to the south side are 19th-century additions. The vestry has a three-light window with Perpendicular-type tracery to the head. There is no east window.

Interior

The two-bay south aisle has a double-chamfered pointed arcade on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The five-bay north arcade comprises four double-chamfered arches and one single-chamfered arch. The three inner arches are under hoodmoulds with fleurons and face stops, sitting on cylindrical piers with moulded capitals and water-holding bases. The west respond is a recent pilaster. The crossing and chancel arches are double-chamfered with hoodmoulds on octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. The rood screen, the painted arch-braced roof to the nave, and the chancel roof with traceried panels above tie-beams were all created around 1895 by Bodley. The south transept contains an ogeed piscina and a cusped niche for an effigy. The north transept has a niche for an effigy.

Monuments include a late 13th-century reclining effigy of a cross-legged knight in the south aisle, thought to be Adam de Newmarch who died in 1287, with a stone coat of arms above. A Baroque cartouche commemorates Tobiah Harvey, died 1720. Neo-classical wall monuments include one to Frances Harvey Stanhope who died in 1794, and another by R Blore of Piccadilly to Elizabeth Harvey who died in 1824. The organ is by August Gern. An early 17th-century Spanish tiled wall hanging depicting the Last Supper was brought into the church in the late 19th century. Stained glass by Kempe is located in the south aisle east window and the north aisle north window.