Church of St Martin, Worle

Church of Saint Martin
Location	Worle, Somerset, England
Coordinates	51°21′41″N2°55′50″W / 51.3614°N 2.9306°W / 51.3614; -2.9306 -->
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Church of Saint Martin
Designated	19 May 1983 [1]
Reference no.	1137549
Location of Church of Saint Martin in Somerset

The Church of St Martin in Worle within the English county of Somerset has Norman origins. It is a Grade II* listed building. ^[1]

History

St Martin's Church was built in 1125 and rebuilt during the 14th and 15th centuries, with major restoration and extension work by John Norton in 1870 at the cost of £1,700. It reopened on the 5th November 1870. ^{[1] [2]} It is a Grade II* listed building. ^[1] The West Gallery was built in 1988-1989 by Coffin, Jones and Roden in Simple Gothic style. ^[2] The organ is an exceptional Baroque case and pipework made in Frankfurt in 1662 and later installed in a chapel in Blackburn, Lancashire, before being installed in St. Martin's in the 1860s. It was rebuilt in 1957. ^{[3] [2]}

The church was described by John Collinson in 1791 as 'a neat Gothick structure, consisting of a nave, chancel and north aisle: at the West end, is a low tower, surmounted with a small spire, and containing a clock and six bells. The christenings of this parish are 13, the burials, 5, annually' ^[4]

Following the dissolution of the monasteries the carved misericords from Woodspring Priory were moved to the South side stalls of the chancel at St Martin's. ^{[5] [6] [2]}

The Church is now ecumenical, with Methodist as well as Church of England ministers. The parish and benefice of Worle is within the Diocese of Bath and Wells. ^[7]

Architecture

The stone building has a tiled roof and consists of a four bay nave, chancel and north aisle. The three-stage tower is supported by angle buttresses. ^[1]

See also

• List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells

References

1. Historic England. "Church of Saint Martin (1137549)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 12 March 2017.
2. Thompson, Jenny (2025). St Martin's Church Worle 900 years of power and glory (in ISO 639-1) (1st ed.). Worle. pp. 14–15.
3. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011). Somerset: North and Bristol: Pevsner Architectural Guides (in ISO 639-1) (Revised ed.). Yale University Press. ISBN   9780300126587.
4. Collinson, John (1791). The history and antiquities of the county of Somerset (in ISO 639-1) (1st ed.). Bath: R. Cruttwell. p. 615.
5. Tomalin, David John; Crook, Christopher (2007). Woodspring Priory. The Landmark Trust.
6. Tomalin, David John (1974). Woodspring Priory, Somerset (in ISO 639-1). Shottesbrooke, Berkshire: The Landmark Trust.
7. "St Martin, Worle". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 13 March 2017.

External links

• Church web site