St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Architecture
Architect(s)	James Gibbs

St Martin-in-the-Fields is an English Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since the medieval period. The present building was constructed in a Neoclassical design by James Gibbs in 1722–1724.

History

Roman era

St Martin-in-the-Fields and Charing Cross, circa 1562

Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave from about 410 AD.^[1] The site is outside the city limits of Roman London (as was the usual Roman practice for burials) but is particularly interesting for being so far outside, and this is leading to a reappraisal of Westminster's importance at that time. The burial is thought by some to mark a Christian centre of that time (possibly reusing the site or building of a pagan temple).

Medieval and Tudor

The earliest extant reference to the church is from 1222, with a dispute between the Abbot of Westminster and the Bishop of London as to who had control over it. The Archbishop of Canterbury decided in favour of Westminster, and the monks of Westminster Abbey began to use it.^[2]

Henry VIII rebuilt the church in 1542 to avoid plague victims from the area having to pass through his Palace of Whitehall. At this time, it was literally "in the fields", an isolated position between the cities of Westminster and London.

A number of notables were buried in this phase of the church, including Robert Boyle, Nell Gwynne and John Parkinson.

Seventeenth century

By the reign of James I the church was inadequate for the congregation, due to the great increase in population in the area. In 1606, the king granted an acre of ground to the west of St. Martin's Lane for a new churchyard,^[3] and the building was enlarged eastwards over the old burial ground, increasing the length of the church by about half.^[4] At the same time the church was, in the phrase of the time, thoroughly "repaired and beautified".^[4] Later, in the 17th century, capacity increased with the addition of galleries, and the creation of the new parishes of St Anne, Soho, and St James, Piccadilly. The opening of a chapel in Oxenden Street, also relieved some of the pressure on space.^[3]

As it stood at the beginning of the 18th century, the church was built of brick, rendered over, with stone facings. The roof was tiled, and there was a stone tower, with buttresses. The ceiling was slightly arched,^[4] supported with what Edward Hatton described as "Pillars of the Tuscan and Modern Gothick orders".^[4] The interior was wainscotted in oak to a height of 6 ft (1.8 m), while the galleries, on the north, south and west sides, were of painted deal.^[4] The church was about 84 ft (26 m) long and 62 ft (19 m) wide. The tower was about 90 ft (27 m) high.^[4]

Rebuilding

A survey of 1710 found that the walls and roof were in a state of decay. In 1720, Parliament passed an act for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. A temporary church was erected partly on the churchyard and partly on ground in Lancaster Court. Advertisements were placed in the newspapers that bodies and monuments of those buried in the church or churchyard could be taken away for reinterment by relatives.^[3]

The rebuilding commissioners selected James Gibbs to design the new church. His first suggestion was for a church with a circular nave and domed ceiling,^[5] but the commissioners considered this scheme too expensive. Gibbs then produced a simpler, rectilinear plan, which they accepted. The foundation stone was laid on 19 March 1722, and the last stone of the spire was placed into position in December 1724. The total cost was £33,661 including the architect's fees.^[3]

Present church

Interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields

The west front of St Martin's has a portico with a pediment supported by a giant order of Corinthian columns, six wide. The order is continued around the church by pilasters. In designing the church, Gibbs was drew upon the works of Christopher Wren, but departed from Wren's practice in his integration of the tower into the church. Rather than considering it as an adjunct to the main body of the building, he constructed it within the west wall, so that it rises above the roof, immediately behind the portico,^[5] an arrangement previously used by John James at St George, Hanover Square (1712–24), though James' steeple was much less ambitious.^[5] The spire of St Martin's rises 192 ft (59 m) above the level of the church floor.^[3]

The church is rectangular in plan, with the five-bay nave divided from the aisles by arcades of Corinthian columns. It contains galleries over both aisles and at the west end. The nave ceiling is a flattened barrel vault, divided into panels by ribs. The panels are decorated with cherubs, clouds, shells and scroll work, by Giuseppe Artari and Bagutti.^[3]

Until the creation of Trafalgar Square in the 1820s, Gibbs's church was crowded by other buildings. J.P. Malcolm, writing in 1807, said that the its west front "... would have a grand effect if the execrable watch-house and sheds before it were removed ..." and described the sides of the church as "... lost in courts, where houses approach them almost to contact ...".^[6]

The design was criticised widely at the time, but subsequently became extremely famous, being copied particularly widely in the United States.^[7] In India, St. Andrew's Church, Egmore, Madras (now Chennai) is modeled on this church.

Various 18th-century notables were soon buried in the new church, including the émigré sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac (who had settled in this area of London) and the furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale (whose workshop was in the same street as the church, St Martin's Lane^[8]), along with Jack Sheppard in the adjoining churchyard. This churchyard, which lay to the south of the church, was removed to make way for Duncannon Street, constructed in the 19th century to provide access to the newly created Trafalgar Square.^[9]

Recent times

The ceiling of the café in the crypt

Because of its prominent position, St Martin-in-the-Fields is one of the most famous churches in London. Dick Sheppard, Vicar from 1914 to 1927 who began programs for the area's homeless, coined its ethos as the "Church of the Ever Open Door". The church is famous for its work with homeless people through The Connection at St Martin, created in 2003 through the merger of two programs dating at least to 1948.^[10] The Connection shares with The Vicar's Relief Fund the money raised each year by the BBC Radio 4 Appeal's Christmas appeal.^[11]

The crypt houses a café which hosts jazz concerts whose profits support the programs of the church. The crypt is also home to the London Brass Rubbing Centre, an art gallery and a book and gift shop. A life-sized marble statue of Henry Croft, London's first pearly king, was moved to the crypt in 2002 from its original site at St Pancras Cemetery.

In January 2006, work began on a £36-million renewal project. The project included renewing the church itself, as well as provision of facilities encompassing the church's crypt, a row of buildings to the north and some significant new underground spaces in between. The funding included a grant of £15.35 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The church and crypt reopened in the summer of 2008.^[2]

Twelve historic bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields are included in the peal of the Swan Bells tower in Perth, Western Australia.

Before embarking for the Middle East Campaign, Edmund Allenby was met by General Beauvoir de Lisle at the Grosvenor Hotel and convinced General Allenby with Bible prophecies of the deliverance of Jerusalem. He told General Allenby that the Bible said that Jerusalem would be delivered in that very year, 1917, and by Great Britain. General Beauvoir de Lisle had studied the prophecies, as he was about to preach at St Martin-in-the-Fields.^[12]

Royal connections

The church has a close relationship with the Royal Family, whose parish church it is,^[13] as well as with 10 Downing Street and the Admiralty.^[14]

Almshouses

The church established its own almhouses and pension-charity on 21 September 1886. The 19 church trustees administered almshouses for women and provided them with a weekly stipend. The almshouses were built in 1818 on part of the parish burial ground in Camden Town and St Pancras and replaced those constructed in 1683.^[15]

Vicars

Music

The church is known for its regular lunchtime and evening concerts: many ensembles perform there, including the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which was co-founded by Sir Neville Marriner and John Churchill, a former Master of Music at St Martin's.

List of organists

West end and organ by J. W. Walker

Organists include:

• John Weldon 1714–1736
• Joseph Kelway 1736–1781 (formerly organist of St Michael, Cornhill)
• Benjamin Cooke 1781–1793
• Robert Cooke 1793–1814 (son of Benjamin Cooke)
• Thomas Forbes Gerrard Walmisley 1814–1854?
• William Thomas Best 1852–1855?
• W.H. Adams, appointed 1857^[19]
• H.W.A. Beale
• William John Kipps 1899–1924
• Martin Shaw 1920–1924
• Arnold Goldsborough 1924–1935
• John Alden 1935–1938
• Stanley Drummond Wolff 1938–1946
• John Churchill 1949–1967
• Eric Harrison 1967–1968
• Robert Vincent 1968–1977 (later organist of Manchester Cathedral)
• Christopher Stokes 1977–1989 (later Director of Music, St. Margaret's Westminster Abbey and Organist & Master of the Choristers Manchester Cathedral)
• Mark Stringer 1989–1996 (later Director of Music, Methodist Central Hall,Westminster)
• Paul Stubbings 1996–2001
• Nick Danks 2001–2008
• Andrew Earis 2009 –

St Martin's school

In 1699 the church founded a school for poor and less fortunate boys, which later became a girls' school. It was originally sited in Charing Cross Road, near the church. At one time it was known as St Martin's Middle Class School for Girls, and was later renamed St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls. It was relocated to its present site in Lambeth in 1928.

The school badge depicts the eponymous St Martin of Tours. The school's Latin motto Caritate et disciplina translates as "With love and learning".^[7] The school is Christian but accepts girls of all faiths.

See also

• List of churches and cathedrals of London
• Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Notes and references

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Martin-in-the-Fields.

• St Martin-in-the-Fields website
• Connection at St Martin's website
• Roman occupation of church site
• Mystery Worshipper Report at the Ship of Fools website
• Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret)

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Coordinates: 51°30′32″N 0°07′37″W / 51.50889°N 0.12694°W / 51.50889; -0.12694