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St Martin-in-the-Fields

St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields, July 2011.jpg
2011
Location Westminster
London, WC2
Country England
Denomination Church of England
Website www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org
History
Dedication Saint Martin
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade I
Architect(s) James Gibbs
Architectural type Church
Style Neoclassical
Years built 1721–1726
Specifications
Number of spires 1
Spire height 192 feet (59 m)
Bells 12 (full circle)
Tenor bell weight 29 long cwt 1 qr 1  lb (3,277 lb or 1,486 kg)
Administration
Deanery Westminster (St Margaret)
Archdeaconry London
(previously Charing Cross)
Diocese London
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s) Sam Wells
Laity
Director of music Andrew Earis PhD
Churchwarden(s) Gail Elkington
Adrian Harris
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Church of St Martin in the Fields
Designated 24 February 1958
Reference no. 1217661

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 1722–1726.

Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave from about 410 AD. 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).

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.

Henry VIII rebuilt the church in 1542 to keep plague victims in the area from 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.

By the beginning of the reign of James I, the church had become inadequate for the size of its 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, and the building was enlarged eastwards over the old burial ground, increasing the length of the church by about half. At the same time the church was, in the phrase of the time, thoroughly "repaired and beautified". Later in the 17th century capacity was further increased with the addition of galleries. The creation of the new parishes of St Anne, Soho, and St James, Piccadilly, and the opening of a chapel in Oxenden Street also relieved some of the pressure on space.


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