ST MARTIN'S CHURCH, Holt

Holt Parish Church

In Holt church the earliest architectural feature, an opening in the bell tower wall, was possibly constructed within ten years of the Norman conquest. It bears Saxon characteristics and probably reflects the use of native stone masons by the Norman lord. The nave was constructed about 1100 to 1110, and the chancel arch in 1120. The church is famous for the fascinating Romanesque sculpture to be found inside. One wall holds a statue of the Green man shown with foliage emerging from his mouth. Capitals of many pillars are carved, the most prominent being a grinning fox with ribbed nose and forehead indicating wrinkles, notched eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. Nearby is a carving of a bird, and it is thought these illustrate Aesop's fable of the fox and the stork.

The font was carved by the same mason as the earliest work. It is made in two sections, the base from a pinkish sandstone, and the bowl and stem of a harder, greenish-grey sandstone, and stands on a modern cylindrical plinth. The bowl is encircled by six faces of the Green Man, with vine links emerging from their open mouths and ears.

The rest of the structure of the building dates from periods in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as do some of the memorials and leaded windows. There are two plain round-headed windows of 12th Century on the north side of the nave, and two in the north chancel wall, the latter windows having been lengthened at a later date.

In 1113 both Holt and Little Witley were still chapelries of St Helen’s in Worcester, however Holt become a rectory before 1269. A chapel of St. Mary Magdalen in the church was mentioned in 1366, when a relaxation of penance was granted to those who gave alms and visited it on certain days, but there is no reference to it after this date.

The church was apparently in an extremely dilapidated state before its 19th Century restoration. It is often difficult to distinguish the new work from the genuine 12thc. sculpture, much of which has been re-tooled. Restorations were begun by the Ward family in 1859.

List of Rectors

1269 Giles de Alvechurch

1283 Simon de Bampton

1290 William de Alvechurch

1324 Gregory Byl de Salop

1329 Stephen Cassy

1334 Thomas Powys

1339 Geoffrey de Upton

1341 Henry de Gretford

1349 William Alwy

1349 Thomas atte Halle

1363 William Alewy

1363 William Rome

1369 Wiliam de Morton

1393 Thomas Wodeford

1393 John Bache

1395 John Wattes

1400 Walter Cook

1401 Walter Nicholles

1405 Thomas Stoke

1413 John Frankleyn

1414 John Osmond 1421 Richard Broxhede

1422 John Beo

1429 John Eburton

1434 Richard Parker

1469 Walter John

1472 Walter Smyth

1517 Edwarde Walshe

1554 Humphrey Hawes

1572 Henry Bedell

1607 Richard Farmer, A.M.

1619 William Panting, A.M.

1646 Isaac Charles

1657 Joseph Smith

1663 John Washbourne A.M.

1695 George Wall, S.T.P.

1679 William Pennel A.M.

1727 John Whitehead, A.B.

1740 Edwin Sandys B.C.L.

1764 Henry Thomas Foley M.A.

1812 John Foley M.A. 1847 Charles John Sale M.A.

1897 Frederick Charles Stamer, M.A.

1900 John Bourne Eccleston M.A.

1904 Alfred Cecil Fox B.D.

Holt has shared its rectors with Grimley since 1930.

Holt church is a listed building, the listing for which reads 'Church of St Martin 29.7.59 GV I Parish church. Mid-C12, altered in C13, C14 and C15 additions, restored in 1859. Sandstone rubble, part coursed, also sandstone ashlar, tiled roofs with gable end parapets. West tower, nave with opposing doorways, south chapel, chancel and vestry. West tower: C15; 3 stages; string to lower stage and above and below belfry stage; corner angled buttresses with offsets up to second stage, small flat buttresses on corbels at belfry stage. 3-light west window with hood mould and head label stops; second stage has single light, flat-headed openings filled with pierced stone louvres; belfry stage has 2-light windows also filled with pierced, stone louvres. Embattled parapet and corner crocketted finials. Nave: North elevation has buttresses with offsets at each end and below easternmost window. The latter dates from the C19 restoration and echoes earlier windows; its outer arch, enriched with cable moulding, continues as frieze which runs beneath the sills of the 2 lower C12 windows; these have wide, splayed reveals. Between them is the north doorway, also C12, round-headed of 2 orders, richly chevron moulded, and having nookshafts with figured capitals, the left one illustrating the fable of the Fox and the Crane both drinking from a cask. The opposing doorway in the south elevation is of similar but richer design, its round arch has horizontal and vertical chevrons; double nookshafts with cushion capitals and grotesque heads. To the west is a C19 window, again highly detailed in the C12 manner. South chapel Added in C14, and adjoining upper nave and lower chancel. Separate tiled roof, buttresses with offsets at ends and to right of centre of south elevation. 3-light C14 east window and three C14 2-light windows in south wall; between westernmost one is a blocked light. A string course stops a few feet each side of this light and the adjacent buttress appears to be later in date so there may have been a small building against this part of the wall. In the west elevation is a small, blocked, pointed, arched light, probably a hagioscope, over which the string course forms a hood. Chancel: Original chancel lengthened in C13. Buttresses with offsets at east end; 2-light C15 east window; 3 round-headed single light windows in north elevation; the sills of central and westernmost ones were lengthened in C13 and both cut through an embattled moulding. Between them projects a C19 gabled vestry, parapet has saddlestone and there are 2 round-headed lights in its north gable end. Chancel south elevation has a C13 round-headed light at its east end. Interior C12 chancel arch, with chevron mouldings and sunk label above enriched with medallions, beast's head at apex, double nookshafts and half-columns to each jamb, all have capitals with scalloped and interlace ornament, the north column carved with grotesque heads; the eastern face is a similar but less detailed design. South arcade, C14, 2 bays, round-headed arches of 2 chamfered orders, central octagonal pier with moulded capital and base; responds are octagonal to within 4 feet of ground and square below; west face of upper part of east respond is a pointed arch-headed recess. There is an additional archway into chapel in the south chancel wall, similarly detailed. Wagon roofs to nave and chancel; chapel has 2 intermediate queen post trusses with arch braces above collar, to sides of posts and beneath tie-beam ends. Font: C12 drum-shaped on chevron- incised base and short, thick stem with spiral fluting. Bowl base has cable moulding and beaded spiral band, bowl decorated with grotesque heads, their expanded mouths joined by swags. The pulpit is C19, with detailing of elaborate Romanesque inspiration. C15 trefoil-headed piscina; opposite piscina in north wall of chancel is a C12 round-headed niche, defaced when the chancel was lengthened. To left of it is a C19 round-headed enriched doorway into the vestry. Either side of the altar are two C13 arched niches. Brass neo- Romanesque altar rails of thick columns with decorated capitals. Above the chancel arch is a segmental mosaic, a C19 copy of the C5 Good Shepherd mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placida in Ravenna; beneath is written "In memory of William, Earl of Dudley, who restored this church in 1859". There is also a mosaic of vines behind the altar and each side large mosaics of angels, the right one signed F Novo, Venezia 1886. On the west wall of the chapel hangs a tabard emblazoned with the Brayley arms and quarterings. Parish chest in chapel. Memorials: In the south chapel is a C15 lifesize effigy of a woman with a lion at her feet and a coat of arms; she is believed to be the daughter of Sir John Beauchamp; the effigy was painted in the C19. On the south chapel wall is a memorial to Henry Bromley, died 1683, of Ionic columns flanking the inscribed tablet with the Bromley crest within a pediment above. On the west wall of the chapel is a memorial to Mercy Bromley, wife of Henry Bromley, died 1704, a tablet flanked by spiral columns and grieving cherubs, and above a relief of putti surmounted by the Bromley crest. On the south wall of the chancel is a memorial to Sir Henry Bromley, died 1615, flanked by Ionic columns and above 2 angels and the Bromley crest; on the north chance wall are 3 early C19 memorials. On the chancel floor are 6 ledger slabs; one to John Washbourne died 1619, a former rector, and some medieval tile remains. There are also 5 ledger slabs and medieval tile remains on the chapel floor. Glass: fragmentary C15 Annunciation in chapel. East window by Kempe, 1892. Central window in north chancel wall has fragments of medieval glass. One of the most important and profusely decorated Romanesque churches in Worcesterhsire. (VCH; BoE).'

Two memorials in the church-yard are listed structures. The listing for one reads 'Chest tomb about 25 yards south-south-west of the west tower of the Church of St Martin GV II Chest tomb. Late C18. Ashlar with slate inscription panels. Moulded base and cornice, tall, hipped, ridged capping, plain corner piers. Rectangular inscription panels to north and south, the south one now detached from its setting and illegible. The north one commemorates Ann, Countess Dowager of Coventry, died 17?, her first husband Gilbert, Earl of Coventry, died 1719; the south one commemorates Edmund Pytts, the Countess's second husband.'

The listing for the second reads 'Webb memorial about 28 yards south-west of the west tower of the Church of St Martin GV II Chest tomb. Early C19. Ashlar. Gothic style. Moulded plinth and cornice, ridge capping, corner piers have cusped lancet panels. Inscription panels within simple moulded surrounds. Peter Webb, died ? and Mary ?, died 1821.'