St James & St Paul
Marton, Cheshire
With a founding date of 1343, Marton's church just pips Lower Peover to the post to make it possibly the oldest timber framed church of its kind in Europe.
The first church here dates from the 14th century, but the earliest written record is from 1474, when it appears to have been a chapel of ease or possibly a domestic chapel for the Fittons of Siddington Hall. The chapel was timber framed, but much of the timberwork was pulled down in the 18th century to be replaced by brick.
Although the exact age of the building is unknown, records at Prestbury Church mention a chapel at Siddington in wills dating from c1337 and c1474. What is absolutely certain, however, is that it was first consecrated for preaching in 1521. In 1721 a licence was granted for burial in the churchyard and baptism, but it was not licenced for marriages until 1883.
The church has a timber frame, filled with wattle and daub plaster. It had a thatched roof for much of its life, but sometime in the 1700s it was decided to reroof the building with heavy flagstone slabs, causing the long walls to bulge. They were encased in a brick ‘sandwich’ in 1816.
Just to the left of the south door, at ceiling height, it is possible to see the top of one of the carved wooden pillars, made from single pieces of oak, that still line the whole building. Immediately facing the door is the ‘Animal Window’ commemorating the famous Animal Services held each June in the churchyard for some 30 years. Nowadays the church is known to many as the Corn Dolly Church thanks to the fabulous displays made by the church’s Emeritus Reader.
The screen between the main part of the church and the choir stalls dates from the 1300s, and it is still possible to see the marks of the adze tools used to shape it. Behind the left hand choir stalls are two low windows which are thought to have been ‘Leper windows’. These would originally have been unglazed, and allowed the diseased to watch the services from outside.
Outside the church door is a medieval preaching cross.
In the churchyard are a pair of simple white crosses commemorating two Canadian airmen. While attempting to land, a wingtip caught a support stay on a flagpole, and the plane crashed. Lt Alex MacGillivray died that day, while Lt Claude Watchorn died the following day. Their simple graves were erected near the Bickerton family tombs in the churchyard and a pair of oak trees were planted on the crash site (one still stands).