According to a late medieval document, St Martin’s church, at the corner of Cathedral Close and Catherine Street, was founded in 1065 (consecrated on July 6th 1965).
An important discovery made in the 1980s and 1990s was the recognition that the surviving church, which was previously believed to date to the later middle ages, is in large part Anglo-Saxon, and presumably the church of 1065. It has a simple plan of two cells (rooms), the masonry being largely of local volcanic rubble.
Early in the 15th century the church was enlarged and remodelled, and in the 18th century it was completely refurnished. The unusual stone reredos and oak altar rails were installed, as was the gallery at the west end and the box pews. The gallery has painted on it the arms of the city and of Bishop Trelawny, a local hero in Cornwall, who was imprisoned for libel by James II.
The monuments are a dominant feature of St Martin’s. An elaborate 18th century monument commemorates Philip Hooper, the benefactor who donated the reredos. Splendidly bewigged, he kneels at a prayer desk with a skull and pile of books. Other monuments dating from the 18th and 19th centuries have been brought to St Martin’s from another church, St Paul’s, which was demolished in 1936, and can be seen in the chancel and the tower.
This church is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, and although no longer needed for regular worship is still a consecrated building.
Digital photograph
Visitors to this album since June 2003
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