St Martins Priory Ruins

The ruins of St Martin’s Priory are of medieval origin, with core elements dating to the 12th century, or possibly even earlier, and later additions from the 15th century. The site, originally marked on Ordnance Survey maps as the remains of a Benedictine priory, is constructed from sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. The layout is now difficult to determine, as much stone has been reused in field and garden walls, but the main visible remains consist of a tower-like structure, likely a gatehouse, and the western section of a rectilinear structure, probably the church, linked by a wall.

The tower, dating to the 15th century, is three stories high and one bay wide, featuring quoins. The west elevation shows coursed rubble to the lowest storey, with a double-chamfered pointed-arch doorway with continuous moulding and a label. The first floor possesses a chamfered cross window, later restored in the 19th century with mullions. A vent is present on the second floor. The crenellated roofline is a 19th-century restoration, replacing the original pitched roof, although kneelers from the earlier roof remain. The left return has a buttress; the right return features a single-light first-floor window, a second-floor vent, and a lean-to addition containing a stone spiral staircase accessed from a rear wall. The ground-floor chamber of the tower has a rubble barrel-vault and tiny vents with deeply-splayed reveals in the left and right walls.

The church’s rubble walls likely date to the 12th century, or possibly earlier. On the west elevation is a round-arched doorway formed of two chevroned orders, one formerly shafted with weathered scalloped capitals. Above this is a 15th-century segmental-arched window containing fragments of three lights with Perpendicular tracery. The left return shows remains of stepped buttresses at both ends of the surviving wall, and a matching Perpendicular window at a lower level. A hollow-chamfered pointed-arch doorway is visible on the right return, and a segmental-arched doorway connects the church to the tower.

The nearby St Martin’s Farmhouse, which is not included in this listing, may contain a medieval guesthouse, suggested by a mullion window surround and a buttress on its north end. The site was originally gifted, in approximately 1100, with land and a chapel dedicated to St Martin, by Wymar, Steward to the Earl of Richmond, to St Mary’s Abbey in York. This established St Martin’s as a Cell under a Prior. The site is designated as an Ancient Monument and is subject to protection.