St Martin's Church is a redundant

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the village of

Waithe Waithe (or Waythe) is a hamlet and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is on the A16, south from Holton-le-Clay and north from North Thoresby. History The name 'Waithe' comes from the Old English ''wæd'' ...

, Lincolnshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It stands in open countryside near the A16 road between Grimsby and Louth.

History

The building originates from the 10th century, with additions and alterations carried out in the 11th and 13th centuries. It was restored in 1861 by James Fowler of Louth, for the Haigh family, local landowners. By the time it was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust in the 2000s, the building was in a state of decay and it had been vandalised. Some of the bell openings were near to collapse. The site was overgrown and the interior contained debris and bat

guano Guano (Spanish from qu, wanu) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. As a manure, guano is a highly effective fertilizer due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. G ...

. Repairs started in October 2005 and cost nearly £350,000.

Architecture

Exterior

The tower is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

, and the 19th-century restoration is in Early English style. The church is constructed in local limestone and ironstone, the roofs being a mixture of clay tiles and Welsh

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

. Its plan consists of a two-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

nave with north and south aisles, a small south transept, a chancel in the form of an apse, and a central tower at the crossing between the nave and the chancel. The tower is in three stages with a plain parapet. The north wall contains a

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

over which is a cinquefoil window. The bell openings in the top stage are paired; the lights being separated by a shaft with a cushion

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

. The west wall of the church contains four lancet windows and a window in the shape of a vesica. In the north wall of the north aisle are two lancet windows, with a similar window in its east wall. There are five lancets around the apse of the chancel, and another in the east wall of the south transept. In the south wall of the transept is a doorway with a pointed moulded arch flanked by buttresses. In the gable above the doorway is a lancet window, also with a moulded head. In the south wall of the south aisle are two further lancet windows.

Interior

The nave is separated from the aisles by two-bay arcades. The walls of the aisles and nave consist of bands of red brick and

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone. Around the tops of the walls are tiles containing texts. The tower arches are round-headed. In the south wall of the tower is a marble plaque recording the restoration of the church in 1861. Around the chancel apse is blind arcading consisting of marble shafts and limestone arches with decorated capitals, rising from a

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

, chancel floor and chancel walls are covered with elaborately decorated Minton tiles. Some of the stained glass is by Ward and Hughes, and the rest is by

Powell Powell may refer to: People * Powell (surname) * Powell (given name) * Powell baronets, several baronetcies *Colonel Powell (disambiguation), several military officers *General Powell (disambiguation), several military leaders *Governor Powell (di ...

. The fittings date from the 1861 restoration and include a carved

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, a stone

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

on a marble base, and a full set of

pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

pews. Beneath the altar is the Haigh family

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

External features

In the churchyard are the base and shaft of a cross dating from the 14th century and restored in 1861. It is designated as a Grade II listed building and a Scheduled Monument.

References

External links

Includes photographs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waithe, St Martin's Church Grade I listed churches in Lincolnshire Church of England church buildings in Lincolnshire Standing Anglo-Saxon churches Gothic Revival architecture in Lincolnshire Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust Scheduled monuments in Lincolnshire Former Church of England church buildings