St Martin, Bowness on Windermere

St Martin
Bowness on Windermere
Cumbria

St Martins sits a few yards from the lakeside, and sandwiched between Church Street, Fallbarrow Road and St Martin's Place. In the order of things, this beautiful church looks a little out of place here in Bowness, but it echos a past that is hidden from view in the small town that we see today.

It's thought that there has been a church on or near this site since the beginning of the 1200's, probably originating as a chapel under All Saints in Kendal. This original building was burnt down towards the end of the 1400's (possibly around 1480) and of this church, only the lower portion of the tower survive.

The church was rebuilt about a year later (1483?) and it is this rebuilt church that provides us with the basic layout of the building we see today. The walls of the North aisle, and the walls of the South aisle, as well as the upper portions of the tower all date from this rebuild, as do the piers separating the nave from the North and South aisles. The chancel, chapel and vestry at the East end of the church and the saddle back roof of the tower, all date from the 1870 Paley and Austin restoration.

St Martin's website.