Bradley: St Martin
Overview
Grid reference: SO 954 954
The most distinguished part of the building, and the most visible from afar, is the tall stone spire. The tower rises above the roof level of the nave - itself lofty - and has clasping buttresses.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Nave with north and south aisles, the nave projecting one bay west beyond the aisles and the east bays of the aisles treated transeptally; chancel with vestry on the north and tower with spire on the south; south porch; and a smaller subsidiary porch at the west end of the north aisle.
Description of Archaeology and History
George Bidlake, 1866-8. Bidlake was a Wolverhampton architect, who built a number of churches locally.
Exterior Description
The most distinguished part of the building, and the most visible from afar, is the tall stone spire. The tower rises above the roof level of the nave - itself lofty - and has clasping buttresses. The tower is very austere, with a single string-course immediately below the tall pairs of belfry openings. The belfry openings are trefoiled at the top, though from a distance they look like plain attentuated lancets. The spire is broached, and severely impressive, with lucarnes about half-way up on each face. The lucarnes are themselves attenuated, with stone-roofed gables. The west wall of the nave is quite close to the street. The west window is of two main divisions, each again divided into three principal lights, and in the heads of these divisions is complex geometrical tracery consisting of trefoils, quatrefoils and sexfoils. Above the main west window is a stone circlet with octofoil tracery, and a heavy stone cross surmounts the gable. At the west end of the north aisle is a steeply gabled small subsidiary porch. The north wall of the porch is pierced by a rectangular opening divided by a stubby colonette with a scalloped capital. The aisle windows generally are of two cusped lights with trefoils in their heads enclosed within spherical triangles. The windows are without hoodmoulds, though these are tentatively suggested by the relieving arches of smaller stones. The aisles are of three bays, then broadening into a fourth transeptal bay at the east. The north transept main window is of four lights the inner lights slightly taller than the outer over which in the centre is a circlet containing three quatrefoils, and subsidiary trefoils over the outer lights. The corresponding south window of the south transept also has four principal lights, but these are all the same height and the tracery consists of two equal cinquefoils left and right and in the head a smaller quatrefoil.
The chancel projects only one bay beyond the nave, and terminates in a canted three-sided apse. The apse windows have three main lights, the middle light pronouncedly taller, with trefoils over the side lights and a big cinquefoil over the middle light. On the south side of the chancel, where it joins the mighty tower, is a polygonal stair-turret with a stone cap. The door to the stair-turret has a Caernarvon arch, as does also the external door of the vestry on the north.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1860s
Stained glass is limited to the south transept and the three three light apse windows, and is as follows;
Apse Left - The Nativity, flanked by The shepherds and the Magi The Flight into Egypt is in the tracery light.
Centre - The Ascension, with Christ The Redeemer in the tracery light.
Right - The Crucifixion.
Interior
Interior Description
The nave is wide as well as lofty. The arcades are, as one would expect from the exterior, of four bays and the arches are supported on three circular stone columns and corbelled-cut capitals at either end. The capitals have deeply undercut stiff-leaf foliage.
The nave roof is divided into five main bays. The timbers are of pitch-pine, and include scissor-braces and necessarily wide tie-beams. The timbers of the apse spring from four stone column-brackets and two small corbels, and one can see that the scissor-braces over the latter have had to be strengthened against collapse.
Fixtures and fittings
Pulpit
The Pulpit is semi-octagonal, of stone set on a circular drum, the upper part arcaded with an attached column at the front with a foliated corbel and capital. The steps have an iron handrail.
Screen
1927
The screen is a simple low stone arcade, dated 1927.
Lectern
1922
Organ (object)
The Organ is a two-manual instrument with tracker action and twenty-two speaking stops.
Font (object)
The Font is tall, the square bowl resting awkwardly on three clustered columns.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SO 954 954
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | Yes |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
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