St Martin's Church, Bladon
| St Martin's Parish Church | |
|---|---|
| Parish Church of Saint Martin, Bladon | |
St Martin's Parish Church
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| Location | Church Street, Bladon, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Martin |
| Architecture | |
| Years built | 1891 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Oxford |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Adrian Daffern |
St Martin's Church in Bladon near , Oxfordshire, England, is the Church of England parish church of Bladon-with-Woodstock. It is also the mother church of St Mary Magdalene at Woodstock, which was originally a chapel of ease. It is best known for the graves of the Spencer-Churchill family, including Sir Winston Churchill, in its churchyard.
The first church on the current site was probably built in the 11th or 12th century. The earliest references to the church state that John de London, Henry III's chaplain, obtained from the King a grant of the Manor of Bladon, with the advowson of the Rectory in 1269.
A print hung in the present St Martin's shows the old church before its demolition in 1802. This print shows an ornate Norman doorway to the south porch, which suggests a 12th or late 11th century date for the building. It also shows a clerestory that would have increased the amount of natural light in the nave.
The parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials date from 1545 and are kept at the Bodleian library in Oxford.
There is no record of the church building itself until 1802, when the parish petitioned the Bishop of Oxford to grant them a new building as the old one was becoming dilapidated and dangerous. Permission was granted, the medieval church was demolished, the 4th Duke of Marlborough paid for building materials and the new church was opened in 1804.
In 1891 the architect A.W. Blomfield rebuilt the chancel, restored the nave, added new windows and added pinnacles on the tower. Unlike the medieval church, the new building has no clerestory and despite the windows that Blomfield added the interior remains relatively dark.
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