St Martin at Tours' Church is an active

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

in the village of Houghton,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

, England. It is a

Grade I 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 ...

. The church stands in the grounds of

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Wa ...

, the 18th century house built by

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leade ...

, England's first

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is n ...

and contains the graves of Sir Robert and his three successors as Earls of Orford of the second creation.

History

The church of St Martin dates from the 14th century. It served the village of Houghton,

as its parish church. The wider

estate had been in possession of the Walpole family since the reign of Henry I.

was born at Houghton in 1676. Elected to Parliament in 1701, by 1721 he was

First Lord of the Treasury The first lord of the Treasury is the head of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury exercising the ancient office of Lord High Treasurer in the United Kingdom, and is by convention also the prime minister. This office is not equivalent to the ...

in the

Walpole–Townshend ministry The government of Great Britain was under the joint leadership of Prime Minister Robert Walpole (in the House of Commons) and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend (in the House of Lords), from 1721 until Townshend's departure from the gove ...

and, following Charles Townshend's resignation in 1730, served as the King's first minister until his own resignation in 1742. Walpole inherited Houghton in 1700 and immediately began a process of modernisation of the house and its surrounding park. As his political power increased, so did his ambitions for his estate and by 1720 he had determined to replace the Elizabethan house with a new

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

mansion. In the grounds, he moved the village of Houghton to a new location at the southern edge of the estate, and enclosed the park. By 1732, the old village had been destroyed with the church the only remaining structure. This was also subjected to Walpolean improvement, with a new tower being constructed at the western end and most of the windows, and much of the interior being replaced. The West Tower was erected in memory of Walpole's grandfather, but, in addition to filial piety, the motivation was the re-creation of the church as a landscape feature on the transformed estate. Sir Robert is buried in the church, along with his first wife,

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Chris ...

, his second wife,

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, d ...

, his brother, Galfridus, and his three successors as Earls of Orford of the second creation; his eldest son

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, his grandson George, and his third son

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

. The church also holds the tombs of

George Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley (; 19 May 1883 – 16 September 1968), styled Earl of Rocksavage from birth until 1923, was a British peer. He was the Lord Great Chamberlain of England in 1936 and also betwee ...

and of his wife,

Sybil Sassoon Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (born Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile Sassoon; 30 January 1894 – 26 December 1989), styled Countess of Rocksavage from 1913 to 1923, was a British socialite, patron of the arts, ...

. The churchyard contains a memorial to one British and five Australian crew members of an

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, ...

bomber who were killed when their plane crashed at Houghton following a raid on the

Ruhr Valley The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/k ...

in October 1944. St Martin's is within the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the East ...

. Services are only held in the summer months, when the Houghton Hall estate is open to the public.

Architecture

Although the basic structure of the church remains from its 14th-century origins, it was transformed by Walpole in the early 18th century. The West Tower is entirely his work, and Bill Wilson, in his 2002 revised ''Norfolk 2: North-West and South'' edition of the Pevsner Buildings of England, suggests that the

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

, the "classical"

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

, and much else is likely of his time. The building material is typical Norfolk

knapped flint In architecture, flushwork is decorative masonry work which combines on the same flat plane flint and ashlar stone. If the stone projects from a flat flint wall then the term is proudwork, as the stone stands "proud" rather than being "flush" w ...

with

Carrstone Carrstone (or carstone, also known as Silsoe, heathstone, ironstone or gingerbread) is a sedimentary sandstone conglomerate formed during the Cretaceous period. It varies in colour from light to dark rusty ginger. Used as a building stone it can be ...

dressings.

Gallery

St Martin of Tours, Houghton - Hatchment (geograph 4137986).jpg, Hatchment of the Earls of Orford St Martin of Tours, Houghton - Ledger slab (geograph 4138008).jpg, Grave of Robert Walpole's father St Martin of Tours, Houghton - Wall monument (geograph 4138013).jpg, Memorial plaque to Horace Walpole St Martin of Tours, Houghton - Effigy (geograph 4137969).jpg, Effigy of a Prior of Cockesford, said to have been brought to the church in 1522 Aircrew crash memorial in Houghton churchyard (geograph 5587903).jpg, Memorial to Australian and British aircrew killed in a plane crash at Houghton, October 1944

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * {{cite book , last = Williamson , first = Tom , editor = Andrew Moore , chapter = The Planting of the Park , title = Houghton Hall: The Prime Minister, The Empress and The Heritage , url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1005869961 , location = London , publisher = Philip Wilson Publishers , year = 1996 , isbn = 978-0-856-67444-0 , oclc = 1005869961 14th-century church buildings in England Houghton Church of England church buildings in Norfolk English Gothic architecture in Norfolk