ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH POINT OF INTEREST
Tombs
(inc. Earl of Carlisle)
The history of burials inside churches dates back to the 11th century and was initially a privilege confined to saints, royalty and clergy. By the late 13th century, monastic burials (usually within the cloister) had become popular among the wealthy, in the belief that the daily prayers of the monks would benefit their souls in the afterlife. Indoor burials among the general laity began to be more common from the mid-13th century, though poorer people continued to be buried in the churchyard. Within the church, the chancel was usually reserved for clergy burials, but parishioners could be buried in the nave as well as in the transepts and side aisles in larger churches or cathedrals. By the 15th century, indoor burials of the lower classes became more widespread, sometimes in guild chapels or close to side altars or popular devotional images. Some people sought their final resting place near where they had regularly sat to worship in the nave during life. The practice was eventually discontinued in the 19th century, when the Burial Acts of the 1850s banned indoor church burials, unless in exceptional circumstances, for reasons of space and hygiene. (With thanks to Dr Ruth Nugent of the University of Liverpool, Building Conservation Directory).
There are a number of tombs in St Martin’s, mainly dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. Most of them are in the nave and are now partly or wholly hidden by the pews and carpet. They seem to follow established hierarchical principles, with the tomb of Sir Ralph Bulmer (1461) and the first resting place of Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, located in the more prestigious sanctuary. The slabs that mark the graves record the following details:
1435 William Turney (of Welburn)
1468 Thomas Doune (Rector)
1441 Sir John Bulmer (Rector?)
1527 Robert Bulmer
1558 Marmaduke Doutry (or Doutre)
1587 Anthony Watt
Research continues to uncover further details of the lives of these people and the circumstances of their burial inside the church.
There are also various commemorative slabs and brasses that are worthy of note. In the sanctuary, to the right of the altar, there is a slab to William Preston who died on 4 July 1867 aged 86, having been rector of St Martin’s for 61 years. To the left of the altar, a brass commemorates his father, Charles Preston, who was incumbent here for 19 years, and a slab to a son who died aged 18. A handsome tablet on the north wall commemorates William’s daughter, Anne Plumer.
Also in the chancel and now covered by the modern carpet, a slab commemorates Mrs Clare Strangeways and her daughter, commissioned by their heir William Skelton. Another slab commemorates James Sadd, Clerk of the Kitchin to the Earl of Carlisle. In the nave, again now hidden beneath the carpet, there is a memorial to Elizabeth, wife of Jeremiah Idle, who died in 1659.