Description

TL 86 NE FORNHAM ST. MARTIN THE STREET

2/27 Church of St. Martin
14.7 55
II*
-

Parish church. C12 and later, restored 1846. Nave, chancel, north porch,
north vestry, and west tower; south aisle added in 1870. Rubble flint, with
traces of external render; freestone quoins and dressings;Slate roofs. The
nave has coursed rubble, partly herringbone on the north side, and some reused
Roman tiles; over the vestry door and to the east side of the porch, remains
of blocked Norman windows with chevron ornament to surrounds. 2-light C19
windows in Perpendicular style on north of nave. Fine early C16 red brick
porch with diaper patterns in blue headers: diagonal buttresses; crow-stepped
gable; above doorway, an empty niche with hood-mould; in the western buttress,
a holy water stoup; blocked 2-light windows on each side; multiple mouldings
to the arched doorway. Tower in 4 stages, the base and the crenellated
parapet both decorated with a chequerwork of stone and black knapped flint.
Diagonal buttresses at the west end faced in freestone. Gargoyles are spaced
along the cornice below the parapet, and each face of the top stage has a high
2-light window with transome and cusping. The stair turret projects on the
south side. The south aisle, almost as large as thenave, and separately
roofed, was built in 1870, replacing an earlier south aisle dating from 1846.
This is in the Perpendicular style. The interior of the nave and chancel
mainly reflects the restoration of 1846, and all fittings are of that date.
The nave is high, with a coved cornice and plastered barrel-vaulted roof;
fleurons on the capitals of the chancel arch have been picked out in colour.
Fine C15 octagonal font: blank shields in roundels alternating with traceried
panels. Both east windows contain late Victorian memorial stained glass. C17
altar rails with turned balusters. Part of the base of the rood-screen seems
to have been reused as a box-pew in the chancel. 2 funeral hatchments on the
south wall of the chancel. A feature of the church are the 2 misericords
built into the Victorian lectern and reading-desk, one showing St. Martin
dividing his cloak with a beggar, the other the martyrdom of St. Thomas a
Becket. These have been brought from elsewhere.

Listing NGR: TL8523366958

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545459

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)