ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH • BULMER

The existence of a church at Bulmer was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086.[1] Sources speculate that the earliest part of the present church may have been built before the Norman Conquest. There may even have been an earlier timber church on this site or nearby in the village.[2]

 

Dedicated to St. Martin, the soldier-saint, hermit, and bishop of Tours, the present stone church has expanded over the centuries.

 

The oldest part of the church is the nave. Dating from the 11th century, the architecture of the nave is stylistically late Anglo-Saxon, demonstrated by the herringbone masonry outside, the three small windows with deep splays, and the now-blocked north door. Other structural features of the nave reflect later waves of development. High-level windows were added in the 15th century, when the nave walls were heightened, and more windows were added in the 18th century.

 

Evidence of a particularly interesting feature of the church can be found on the north wall of the nave, where two large 18th-century windows partially fill two arches. These arches once led to a now-demolished chapel. This lost chapel likely dates from the 14th or 15th century and is thought to have been demolished in the early 18th century. Its floor can still be seen outside.

 

The south doorway of the nave, where we enter the church today, dates from the late 12th century. The original wooden door was replaced in 1910, and the doorway was covered by the porch in the 19th century.

 

The chancel dates from the early 12th century, although the windowless north wall is the only surviving original element. The east and south chancel walls were rebuilt in the late 19th century, reusing earlier material from the 12th–14th centuries, including fragments of window mullion (the vertical bars between window sections) and carved heads.

 

The tower at the west end of the church was originally built in the 15th century. The west window is a surviving datable feature. It was restored and altered in the 17th century (date stone 1637), when the upper stage was rebuilt and the belfry windows likely added. The tower was restored again in the 21st century, in 2026, continuing a tradition of preserving the church for future generations of parishioners.

 

References

 

1. Bulmer entry in the online Open Domesday.

 

2. With thanks to Dr. Dav Smith from the University of York for his notes from a 2016 lecture delivered in Bulmer. This entry is based on those lecture notes.