Co-ords are for the church only. The Church is dedicated to St Martin of Tours, a Patron Saint of France. Here in the UK, he is also the patron-saint of innkeepers.
He was probably born in 316 AD, in what is now Hungary, and was a Roman Army Officer until his life took a dramatic change at the age of 20. On seeing a beggar freezing in the cold, he cut his Army cloak in two and shared it with the poor man. That night, in a dream, Martin saw Christ as the beggar whom he had helped. Martin converted to Christianity and preached throughout Italy and France before devoting his life to Christ as a hermit.
The current church is listed as Grade II* by English Heritage and therefore an architecturally significant building. Built around 1190 AD as a rural church on holdings belonging to Dover Priory, now Dover College. As we see it today, it has probably changed relatively little since Norman times, as the ‘crusader crosses’ incised on the door way indicate. These crosses were carved into the stonework of churches by knights giving thanks for their return from a crusade, and to blunt their swords to symbolise their adoption of a new, peaceful, life. The roof line may have been altered somewhat in the 17th Century, when the false ceiling over the Nave may have been put in.
Hasted’s description of the church, published in 1800, describes the church as having no tower or steeple, but a drawing in 1807 shows it as present; this addition probably necessitated the construction of the buttress against the end wall of the nave, which contains the original Norman windows, although these have been filled in, perhaps at the same time. In the Victorian period, like many other churches, the interior of this church was re-ordered - the arch that screened the chancel was removed, leaving only vestigial traces of the arch, and the pews, wooden rood screen were added. The stained glass windows in the chancel date from that time; the lower two show St Martin as Archbishop and Soldier, and were made by the firm of Worral & Co, costing £11 in 1887. In 1997, at a cost of £35,000, saw the replacement of some of the coping stones which were the original Caen stone.
Near to the entrance to the churchyard is a small plaque commemorating a royal event. On it there is a date: AB month CDEF
The cache, which is located outside the churchyard can be found at;
N51 09.B(F-C) (D-B) E001 19.A (E-B)E
Covid-19: If you have no intention of signing the physical logbook in this geopot at this time, please visit when you are prepared to sign it. ALL physical logbooks MUST be signed for a claim to a find to be made.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
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