St Martin's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of

Preston Gubbals Preston Gubbalds is a small village in Shropshire, England. It lies on the A528 Shrewsbury- Ellesmere road and is in the parish of Pimhill. The name, spelt ''Preston Gubbalds'' or ''Preston Gobald''Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; Nati ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

History

St Martin's originated as a chapel of ease, and what now remains was the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. It was probably altered in the 14th or the 15th century. In 1866 a new church was added to it, and it became the south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

of that church. This enlargement was designed by

Samuel Pountney Smith Samuel Pountney Smith JP (2 November 1812Obituary. Date stated to be his birthday. – 5 November 1883) was an English architect who practised in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Smith was a native of Munslow, where he was baptised on 17 De ...

, and cost £1,600 (). In 1973 most of the work carried out in 1866 was demolished, leaving a single-cell building. The

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

of the 1866 building has been retained, it has been blocked, and forms the north wall of the present building. A bell formerly in the church is now the Sanctus bell in St Alkmund's Church, Shrewsbury. It was cast in 1720 by Abraham Rudhall of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

. The church was declared redundant on 1 June 1973, and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Churches Conservation Trust on 14 November 1974.

Architecture

Exterior

The building is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

with a tile roof. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and chancel form a single cell. The south side of the church contains two

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es, three square-headed windows with two or three lights, a round-arched priest's door from the 12th century, and a 19th-century doorway. On the north side is the former nave arcade in three bays into which 20th-century three-light windows have been inserted. At the west end are round-arched windows, and a doorway that formerly led to the tower staircase. The east end contains a two-light window.

Interior

Many of the carved wooden fittings were made by Rev E. D. Poole, the vicar of the church in the 19th century. These include the altar table and the reredos, the choir stalls, the pews, the

lectern A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of support. ...

and the pulpit. On each side of the altar are boards containing the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

, the Creed, and the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

. The octagonal stone font dates probably from the 16th century; it has a 19th-century base and cover. The oak parish chest dates probably from the 17th century. To the left of the south door is a royal coat of arms, and on the east wall is a pair of benefactors' boards. The monuments include a stone coffin slab from the 14th century carved with the

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places * Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazin ...

of a man above a foliated cross. There are a variety of war-related memorials inside: *Plaque to Flora Constance Kelly, missionary wife of a former Rector, who died a victim of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. *Roll of Honour to men of the parish who served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. *Stained-glass window in south wall to Lance Corporal William Williams,

Welsh Guards The Welsh Guards (WG; cy, Gwarchodlu Cymreig), part of the Guards Division, is one of the Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. It was founded in 1915 as a single-battalion regiment, during the First World War, by Royal Warrant of George V. ...

, killed in action in World War I in 1918, as well as to Edward and Marie Williams and Stephen Lacey, all three men said to be longstanding friends.

External features

In the churchyard is a sundial that was originally a churchyard cross. It is dated 1638, is octagonal and is constructed in sandstone. It consists of a chamfered base and two steps, on which is a baluster and a copper dial plate. It is listed at Grade II. The churchyard contains a

war grave A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of a soldier of

. Also buried in the churchyard, within a family grave, are the ashes of Archdeacon the Earl of Cavan (died 1950), a chaplain veteran of the same war. The parish war memorial, in the form of a marble cross listing the dead from both World Wars, including a local World War I soldier named Martin Luther (ironic in a war against Germany), stands in the churchyard.

References