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
Whenby
Whenby is a civil parish, and small village, in Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England.
Whenby lies between Sheriff Hutton and Brandsby, on Main Street, and a little to the east of the Howardian Hills. It has an area of , and is sit ...
,
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England 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.
History
It is considered that the church was reconstructed in the 15th century on the site of an earlier church.
It was extensively restored between 1871 and 1910.
[ St Martin's was declared redundant on 1 April 1982, 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 Trust on 19 October 1983.
Architecture
Structure
The church is constructed in ironstone with 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. ...
roofs. 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
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 ...
, a two-bay 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.
Ove ...
, an 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, parl ...
running to the north of the nave and the chancel, a south porch and a west tower.[ The architectural style is ]Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
.[ The east end of the aisle forms a chapel. The tower is in two stages, it has angle ]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 (s ...
es and an embattled
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
.[ In the bottom stage is a blocked west doorway with a pointed arch.][ The upper stage has a single-light bell opening on the north side, and two-light bell openings on the other sides. The nave and aisle have two-light windows and a north door. In the chancel is a three-light east window, and two-light windows on its south wall. The chapel has a two-light east and north windows. The porch is considered to be particularly elaborate. The exterior of the church is embattled throughout. Inside the church is a tower arch, but no chancel arch. Between the nave and the aisle is a two-bay arcade, and a similar arcade divides the chapel from the chancel.][
]
Fittings and furniture
There are oak screens between the nave and the chancel, and between the aisle and the chapel. The former screen dates from the 15th century, while the latter screen is Jacobean in style. In the south wall of the chancel is a piscina. The 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 ...
dates from the 15th century and has an octagonal bowl. The oak benches in the nave date probably from the 16th century. The church contains a parish chest from the same period.[ Over the south door are the ]coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
of George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
dated 1821. In the north wall of the tower is the cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
door of a safe.[ There is a ]ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of three bells. The oldest of these is dated from about 1380. The others were cast in 1694 by Samuel I Smith, and by John Warner & Sons in 1913.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whenby, Saint Martin
Grade II* listed churches in North Yorkshire
15th-century church buildings in England
English Gothic architecture in North Yorkshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust