St. Martin's of Tours Church in Basildon Town Centre was officially opened on 10th November 1962 in a consecration service conducted by the Bishop of Chelmsford; Rt. Rev. John Gerhard Tiarks. Its architects were the husband and wife team of Ken S. & Trena N. Cotton. The Rector at the time of opening was Reverend William Winfield. A foundation stone had earlier been laid on 15/10/1960 by then Chairman of Basildon Development Corporation, Sir Humfrey Gale.
The Church received a royal visitor on October 9th, 1968 when Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent (Katharine Windsor) dedicated the new exterior porch and Christ sculpture. The Christ figure was designed by the artist Thomas Baylis Huxley-Jones and completed in fibreglass. It was to be his last completed work as a short time later he was admitted to St. John's Hospital in Chelmsford where he died on 10th December 1968.
A Garden of Remembrance adjacent to the church opened on November 3rd, 1973, in a dedication service conducted by Rev. Peter Grimwood. Standing within the garden is a statue depicting St. Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar, which was created by notable sculptor and artist Peter Foster.
To the front of the church was a large green which years later became St. Martin's Garden and was officially dedicated by the Bishop of Chelmsford; the Rt. Rev. (Albert) John Trillo on 21st June 1984.A refurbishment of the garden was dedicated on 27th June 2006 by the Bishop of Bradwell, the Rt. Rev. Laurence Alexander Green. The public paved area with seating is called St. Michael's Walk.
Another feature to the front of the church is a stone war memorial with the inscription: We Will Remember Them. It stands approximately 3ft high on a plinth in a seated enclosure.
In 1989 the plain exterior glass was replaced with stained glass designed and made by Joseph Nuttgens.
A special service attended by The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh was held on 12th March 1999 to mark the official opening of the Belltower and the first 50 years of Basildon new town.
To find the cache you will need to find the following pieces of information.
N51 34 ABC E000 27.DEF
A=Number of stone tablets by the main doors minus number of sculptures above the door
B= Tuesday night prayer service ?pm
C=Number of white spotlights on the front side of the church
D=Friday Service is at ?pm
E=Seats around the oak tree divided by 3
F=Bell tower Captain:Mr Roger Hobson 01268 491?49
This cache meets the GAGB Urban Placement Guidelines.
The cache has a log book but no pen
PLEASE REPLACE THE LOGBOOK IN THE ZIPLOCK BAG AS THIS KEEPS IT DRY !!
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
To view the church micro stats page, please click here