Church of St Martin

Details

SO 86 SW; 2/82

HOLT CP, Church of St Martin

29.07.59

GV

I

Parish church. Mid-C12, altered in C13, C14 and C15 additions, restored
in 1859. Sandstone rubble, part coursed, also sandstone ashlar, tiled roofs
with gable end parapets. West tower, nave with opposing doorways, south
chapel, chancel and vestry.

West tower: C15; three stages; string to lower
stage and above and below belfry stage; corner angled buttresses with offsets
up to second stage, small flat buttresses on corbels at belfry stage. 3-light
west window with hood mould and head label stops; second stage has single
light, flat-headed openings filled with pierced stone louvres; belfry stage
has 2-light windows also filled with pierced, stone louvres. Embattled
parapet and corner crocketted finials. Nave: North elevation has buttresses
with offsets at each end and below easternmost window. The latter dates from
the C19 restoration and echoes earlier windows; its outer arch, enriched with
cable moulding, continues as frieze which runs beneath the sills of the two
lower C12 windows; these have wide, splayed reveals. Between them is the
north doorway, also C12, round-headed of two orders, richly chevron moulded,
and having nookshafts with figured capitals, the left one illustrating the
fable of the Fox and the Crane both drinking from a cask. The opposing
doorway in the south elevation is of similar but richer design, its round
arch has horizontal and vertical chevrons; double nookshafts with cushion
capitals and grotesque heads. To the west is a C19 window, again highly
detailed in the C12 manner. South chapel Added in C14, and adjoining upper
nave and lower chancel. Separate tiled roof, buttresses with offsets at ends
and to right of centre of south elevation. 3-light C14 east window and three
C14 2-light windows in south wall; between westernmost one is a blocked light.
A string course stops a few feet each side of this light and the adjacent
buttress appears to be later in date so there may have been a small building
against this part of the wall. In the west elevation is a small, blocked,
pointed, arched light, probably a hagioscope, over which the string course
forms a hood. Chancel: Original chancel lengthened in C13. Buttresses
with offsets at east end; 2-light C15 east window; three round-headed single
light windows in north elevation; the sills of central and westernmost ones
were lengthened in C13 and both cut through an embattled moulding. Between
them projects a C19 gabled vestry, parapet has saddlestone and there are two
round-headed lights in its north gable end. Chancel south elevation has a
C13 round-headed light at its east end.

INTERIOR: C12 chancel arch, with
chevron mouldings and sunk label above enriched with medallions, beast's
head at apex, double nookshafts and half-columns to each jamb, all have
capitals with scalloped and interlace ornament, the north column carved
with grotesque heads; the eastern face is a similar but less detailed design.
South arcade, C14, two bays, round-headed arches of two chamfered orders, central
octagonal pier with moulded capital and base; responds are octagonal to within
4 feet of ground and square below; west face of upper part of east respond is
a pointed arch-headed recess. There is an additional archway into chapel in
the south chancel wall, similarly detailed. Waggon roofs to nave and chancel;
chapel has two intermediate queen-post trusses with arch braces above collar, to
sides of posts and beneath tie-beam ends. Font: C12 drum-shaped on chevron-incised base and short, thick stem with spiral fluting. Bowl base has cable
moulding and beaded spiral band, bowl decorated with grotesque heads, their
expanded mouths joined by swags. The pulpit is C19, with detailing of elaborate
Romanesque inspiration. C15 trefoil-headed piscina; opposite piscina in
north wall of chancel is a C12 round-headed niche, defaced when the chancel
was lengthened. To left of it is a C19 round-headed enriched doorway into
the vestry. Either side of the altar are two C13 arched niches. Brass
neo-Romanesque altar rails of thick columns with decorated capitals. Above the
chancel arch is a segmental mosaic, a C19 copy of the C5 Good Shepherd mosaic
in the Mausoleum of Galla Placida in Ravenna; beneath is written "In memory
of William, Earl of Dudley, who restored this church in 1859". There is also
a mosaic of vines behind the altar and each side large mosaics of angels, the
right one signed F Novo, Venezia 1886. On the west wall of the chapel hangs
a tabard emblazoned with the Brayley arms and quarterings. Parish chest in
chapel.

Memorials: In the south chapel is a C15 life-size effigy of a woman
with a lion at her feet and a coat of arms; she is believed to be the daughter
of Sir John Beauchamp; the effigy was painted in the C19. On the south chapel
wall is a memorial to Henry Bromley, died 1683, of Ionic columns flanking the
inscribed tablet with the Bromley crest within a pediment above. On the west
wall of the chapel is a memorial to Mercy Bromley, wife of Henry Bromley, died
1704, a tablet flanked by spiral columns and grieving cherubs, and above a
relief of putti surmounted by the Bromley crest. On the south wall of the
chancel is a memorial to Sir Henry Bromley, died 1615, flanked by Ionic columns
and above two angels and the Bromley crest; on the north chance wall are three early
C19 memorials. On the chancel floor are 6 ledger slabs; one to John Washbourne
died 1619, a former rector, and some medieval tile remains. There are also five
ledger slabs and medieval tile remains on the chapel floor.

Glass: fragmentary
C15 Annunciation in chapel. East window by Kempe, 1892. Central window in
north chancel wall has fragments of medieval glass.

One of the most important and profusely decorated Romanesque churches in
Worcesterhsire.

Listing NGR: SO8296462557

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

151752

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Worcester, (1924)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, (1963)

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