
St Martin's Church, Martindale is located in the valley of
Martindale in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, England. It is often referred to as the "Old Church" to avoid confusion with the nearby
St Peter's Church which is situated half a mile down the valley. The church is dedicated to Saint
Martin of Tours
Martin of Tours (; 316/3368 November 397) was the third bishop of Tours. He is the patron saint of many communities and organizations across Europe, including France's Third French Republic, Third Republic. A native of Pannonia (present-day Hung ...
.
It is now only in occasional use. The church is a Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
History
The date of the establishment of a place of worship on the site of St Martin's is unknown but it is mentioned in a
de Lancaster Charter of 1220 and other references state that a chapel was already in existence at that date. In its early days and up until the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 St Martin's was served by the monks of the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of
Barton. On
Christopher Saxton
Christopher Saxton (c. 1540 – c. 1610) was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales.
Life and family
Saxton was probably born in Sowood, Ossett in the parish of Dewsbury, in the West Riding of Yorkshire ...
's map of 1576 the church is shown as "Markendale Chap".
In 1633 the parish of Martindale was founded and Richard Birkett became the church's first resident priest, he served until his death on Christmas Day 1699, after a ministry of almost 67 years.
The present building was probably erected at the end of the 16th century, replacing the chapel, the last reference to which occurs in a document of 13 April 1541. In 1714 the church floor was
flagged as the congregation were no longer prepared to endure the damp earth floor. In 1839, William Ford, in his book ''"Description of Scenery in the Lake District"'' described the building as ''"a chapel with low roof and simple bell-gable, and a picturesque yew-tree"''.
The church underwent a series of
restorations, the last of which was in 1882 when the roof was replaced, the old
box pew
A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries.
History in England
Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...
s were removed and the same wood was used to construct the side benches.
The singers and musicians gallery was taken down and new window frames installed.
Items of interest
The tiny church bell which hangs in an open
cote at the west end of the church is over 500 years old. The
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, accesse ...
bears the date 1634 and the initials of the donor John Dawes. The
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design.
For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
is believed to be part of a Roman altar which stood as a wayside shrine on the Roman road which crossed the nearby fell of
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
. It was brought down from the fell and used as a holy water container and later as the font.
The churchyard contains an ancient
Yew tree
Yew is a common name given to various species of trees.
It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'':
* European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'')
* Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus b ...
which is estimated to be 1300 years old, documents in the church state the men of Martindale, who were famous as bowmen, used the tree and others in the district to replenish their arms. Also in the churchyard is the Birkett tomb where the first priest of St Martin's, Richard Birkett, is interred. His epitaph states that he was 95 years old when he died and left a sum of £100 "towards the better maintenance of a godly, sober and religious Minister at Martindale Chapell".
Present day

Today the church is only open for
Evensong
Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...
on the last Sunday of the month from May to August at 5:30pm.
The building is never locked and is frequently visited by passing
hill walkers and tourists. The present
Vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
is the Reverend David C. Wood who lives at the vicarage in
Pooley Bridge
Pooley Bridge is a village in the Westmorland and Furness of the northwestern English county of Cumbria, within the traditional borders of Westmorland.
The village takes its name from a bridge over the River Eamont at the northern end of Ul ...
.
See also
*
Grade II* listed buildings in Westmorland and Furness
There are over 20,000 Grade II* listed buildings in England. This page is a list of these buildings in the district of Westmorland and Furness in Cumbria.
It is split by the three former districts which make up the unitary authority area, the B ...
*
Listed buildings in Martindale, Cumbria
Martindale, Cumbria, Martindale is a civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. It contains eleven Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martindale, Saint Martin's Church
Church of England church buildings in Cumbria
Tourist attractions in Cumbria
Grade II* listed churches in Cumbria
St Martin's Church