St Michael and St Martin, Eastleach Martin

St Michael and St Martin is the church of Eastleach Martin, on the east bank of the River Leach (our guide covers Eastleach with Cirencester and the Coln valley), a stone's throw from its twin, St Andrew's, on the other side. Norman in origin and listed Grade I, it is no longer used for regular worship and is cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust, which keeps it open every day.

History

The church goes back to the early twelfth century and has kept its Norman nave, with additions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Victoria County History records that a Norman lord, Richard son of Pons (Richard Fitzpons), granted it to Great Malvern Priory about 1120. After Gloucester Abbey acquired the manor in 1144 the bishop of Worcester dedicated the church, to St Michael and St Martin, and its full tithes and rights as a parish church were confirmed to it.

How it grew

The twelfth-century nave still stands, with both its original doorways. The chancel was rebuilt early in the thirteenth century, then lengthened in the early fourteenth, when the north transept, the south porch and the west tower were added. In the fifteenth century the tower was given its large west window, and perhaps its buttresses. In 1753 the lord of the manor, Viner Small, was licensed to put a seat in the north transept, which was then set aside for him and whoever held the manor estate after him.

Restoration and closure

A west gallery was taken out in a light restoration of 1864, and in 1886 the church was restored more thoroughly and the nave re-roofed. The living was joined to Eastleach Turville's in 1871 and both parishes shared a curate long before that: the poet John Keble served the two churches from 1815 to 1825. In the later twentieth century St Michael and St Martin was declared redundant and vested in the Redundant Churches Fund, now the Churches Conservation Trust, which looks after it today and hires it out for events, blessings of marriages and funerals.

What to see

The north transept window is the finest thing here, five lights of intersecting Decorated tracery filling the gable end; the transept's side windows have three lights each, and the rear arches inside rest on carved corbels and tiny stone heads.

• The Norman south doorway, round-arched, with pellet ornament on the imposts and cushion capitals on its shafts, inside a porch, which the listing dates to the thirteenth century, with a sundial on its gable and a niche in its east wall.
• The chancel's Early English east window of three lights, with a large cusped image niche above it outside and, inside, a broad rear arch with carved heads and nailhead ornament.
• The chancel arch, pointed thirteenth-century work on Norman jambs with cushion capitals, and a trefoil-headed piscina.
• Pews of the late Middle Ages at the back of the nave and seventeenth-century pews with finials at the front, and a hexagonal pulpit with Jacobean panels.
• The lectern, which the Trust says was made up from Elizabethan table legs and bedposts.
• The fifteenth-century octagonal font with a quatrefoil on each face, fragments of medieval glass, and a Latin memorial below the east window to Mary Horton, who died in 1736.
• Outside, the low tower with its hipped roof, stair turret and Perpendicular west window, the old bellcote on the nave's east gable, and a medieval cross base in the churchyard.

Visiting

St Michael and St Martin is open every day and entry is free, with donations to the Trust welcome. There is no electricity, running water or toilet, so come in daylight; on a grey winter afternoon the interior is dark. A gravel path crosses the sloping churchyard and the porch has one step down. Spring is the time the Trust recommends, when daffodils line the river and the paths to the bridge.

Getting there

Eastleach lies in the Leach valley about 6km north of Lechlade, on lanes off the Fairford to Burford road. Parking is on the village lanes and limited, so leave room for farm traffic. On foot, cross the river from St Andrew's by the stone clapper footbridge, Keble's Bridge, or follow the Eastleach and River Leach walk, which passes both churches.

Nearby

St Andrew's, Eastleach Turville, with its carved Christ in Majesty, is a two-minute walk away. Down the valley are St Swithin's at Quenington, with two Norman tympana, St John the Baptist at Coln St Aldwyns and the medieval glass of St Mary's, Fairford.