Churches of the British Isles

Nonour Romano-British Shrine on Nonour requires a kayak or boat trip from St Martin's. It appears formerly to have been a hillock overlooking the main Roman port on the single main island of Insula Sillina. A violent storm in 1962 eroded the sand dunes, uncovering an extensive settlement of ancient hut circles and a shrine to the goddess Sillina who is linked to Sulis of Bath. Roman finds indicated the site was a shrine in the Romano-British period of the island's occupation.

St Martin's Old Chapel could once be found on the isle of St Martin's to the immediate north of St Mary's. It stood on Church Brow, immediately south of the Day Mark (the red and white-striped tower), and its ruins, a rectangle of stone foundations in the grass, should not be confused with the partially-standing lookout station. It existed by 1500 and survived past 1698. A second old chapel may also have existed about here, although there is nothing remaining of it.

St Martin's Bible Christian Chapel is on the north side of Cruther's Neck, at the western edge of Higher Town in St Martin's. It opened about 1821 in a thatched chapel. That was replaced in 1836 by the core of the present building as Bible Christians and Methodists expanded out of Old Town and Church Street in St Mary's (see 'related links'). It was reseated in 1876, and extended and/or rebuilt in 1881. Known as St Martin's Methodist Church from 1932, it remains in use.

The Church of St Martin on St Martin's is at the north-western corner of Higher Town, on the east side of the northwards Middle Town lane. The present church was put up in 1866 for Augustus Smith, 'Lord Proprietor of the Islands', but this was a rebuild of an earlier (second) structure on the site. It consists of roughly coursed granite rubble with a gabled slate roof. It has a rectangular single-cell plan with a west porch, an an east gable with a segmental-arched window.

The original chapel with graveyard is thought to have been built in the eleventh or twelfth centuries. That was replaced about 1683 by the core of the present building, built by Thomas Ekins, steward to Lord Godolphin. It was much smaller than its present guise, being only thirty metres in length. That was enlarged in 1821 by the Reverend George Woodley before, in 1866, it was struck by lightening and a full rebuild was carried out under Augustus Smith.

Four photos on this page kindly contributed by Douglas Law (two), Christine Jones / British Methodist Buildings, and Hornbeam Arts via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and two photos copyright © Bob Embleton and Oliver Dixon via Geograph, reused under a cc licence.