Church of St Martin

The Church of St Martin is a medieval building constructed from local fine-grained red and grey sandstone rubble, with a stone tiled roof renewed in 1887. The church has experienced significant ground instability, which has resulted in considerable repairs and rebuilding over time. It consists of a nave, chancel, a south porch, and a west tower with an external stair turret.

The church is heavily buttressed, featuring three stepped buttresses on each side of the nave and one on the south wall of the chancel. Large flying buttresses were added in the Victorian period to the tower. The nave has three windows on each side. The northwest window is of 12th-13th century style, the southeast window is of 13th-14th century style, and the central window on the south wall is probably of 16th century style; all three are two-light Decorated windows and are Victorian replacements. The porch is of uncertain date, later than the nave wall with which it has a straight joint, and older than the 19th century. It has a likely rebuilt pointed head to the entrance. The chancel appears to have been built separately from the nave, with small pointed windows on either flank wall and a two-light east window with cusped heads, which may be of 14th century origin.

The west tower is medieval and is notable for its significant lean at an angle towards the southwest. It is carefully built of snecked rubble with long and short quoins and has a drip course separating the first and second stages. The ground stage has a Victorian window on the west face, the second has a single small window, and the third has large belfry openings with elliptical heads, two of which have been enlarged. A castellated parapet tops the tower.

The interior demonstrates the impact of the unstable foundations, with an uneven floor, walls out of square, and a twisted roof. The walls are plastered and whitewashed, and four tiebeams were inserted, likely in the 16th or 17th century. The tower arch is low and appears to be early, while the chancel arch seems to have been rebuilt and is very plain. The roof is supported by close-set scissor brace trusses with renewed sarking from 1887. The church furnishings include pews and a pulpit dating to 1887, a 12th-century font, and late 17th or early 18th-century communion rails with turned balusters. Numerous engraved memorials are present on the walls. A set of six bells, all dated between 1672 and 1722, is also housed within the church; the close dating of this bell set is a rare occurrence.