Editing St Martin-in-the-Fields (section)

==History==
===Roman era===
Excavations at the site in 2006 uncovered a group of burials dating from c A.D. 350, including a sarcophagus burial dating from c. A.D. 410.<ref name=bbcg>{{cite news |title=Ancient body prompts new theories |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6196972.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 December 2006 |access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref> The site is outside the city limits of [[Roman London]] (as was the usual Roman practice for burials) but is particularly interesting for being so ''far'' outside (1.6&nbsp;km or 1 statute mile west-south-west of [[Ludgate]]), and this is leading to a reappraisal of Westminster's importance at that time. The burials are thought by some to mark a Christian centre of that time (possibly reusing the site or building of a [[pagan]] temple{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}) or possibly even developing around the shrine of a martyr. 

===Saxon===
What is extraordinary is that the Roman burial ground was acknowledged by the Saxons, who also buried their dead there. To have such a long time span as a burial ground makes St Martin-in-the-Fields relatively unusual. It is possible that the Saxon town of Lundenwic essentially grew eastwards from the early burial group (Museum of London Archaeology).{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===Medieval and Tudor===
[[Image:Stmartins 1562.jpg|thumb|left|St Martin-in-the-Fields and [[Charing Cross]], circa 1562]]

The earliest extant reference to the church is from 1222, when there was a dispute between the [[Abbot of Westminster]] and the [[Bishop of London]] as to who had control over it. The [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] decided in favour of Westminster, and the monks of [[Westminster Abbey]] began to use it.<ref name=give/>

[[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] rebuilt the church in 1542 to keep plague victims in the area from having to pass through his [[Palace of Whitehall]]. At this time it was literally "in the fields", occupying an isolated position between the cities of Westminster and [[City of London|London]].
<!-- [[Image:London St Martin in the Fields Night 1.jpg|thumb|right|St Martin-in-the-Fields by night, from [[Trafalgar Square]]]] -->

===Seventeenth century===
By the beginning of the reign of [[James VI and I|James I]], the local population had increased greatly and the congregation had outgrown the building. In 1606 the king granted an acre ( 4,046.86 mts2) of ground to the west of St Martin's Lane for a new churchyard,<ref name=survey/> and the building was enlarged eastwards over the old burial ground, increasing the length of the church by about half.<ref name=hatton>{{cite book| last=Hatton| first=Edward |volume=1| title=A New Picture of London| year=1708| location=London| chapter=St. Martin's Church (in the fields)|pages=340 ''et seq.''}}</ref> At the same time, the church was, in the phrase of the time, thoroughly "repaired and beautified".<ref name=hatton/> Later in the 17th century, capacity was increased by the addition of galleries. The creation of the new parishes of [[St Anne, Soho]], and [[St James, Piccadilly]], and the opening of a chapel in Oxenden Street also relieved some of the pressure on space.<ref name=survey/>

As it stood at the beginning of the 18th century, the church was built of brick, rendered over, with stone facings. The roof was tiled, and there was a stone tower, with buttresses. The ceiling was slightly arched,<ref name=hatton/> supported with what [[Edward Hatton (surveyor)|Edward Hatton]] described as "Pillars of the ''Tuscan'' and Modern Gothick orders".<ref name=hatton/> The interior was wainscotted in oak to a height of {{convert|6|ft|m|abbr=on}}, while the galleries, on the north, south and west sides, were of painted deal.<ref name=hatton/> The church was about {{convert|84|ft|m|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|62|ft|m|abbr=on}} wide. The tower was about {{convert|90|ft|m|abbr=on}} high.<ref name=hatton/>

A number of notables were buried in this phase of the church, including [[Robert Boyle]], [[Nell Gwyn]], [[John Parkinson (botanist)|John Parkinson]] and Sir [[John Birkenhead]].

===Rebuilding===
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Church of St. Martin-in-the Fields Act 1719
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for rebuilding the Parish Church of Saint Martin in the Fields, in the City of Westminster, at the Charge of the Inhabitants of the said Parish.
| year                  = 1720
| citation              = [[6 Geo. 1]]. c. ''32'' {{small|Pr.}}
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 11 June 1720
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = {{ubli|[[London Government (City of Westminster) Order in Council 1901]]}}
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = repealed
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = {{visible anchor|St. Martin-in-the Fields Church Rebuilding Act 1723}}
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of Great Britain
| long_title            = An Act for compleating the re-building the Parish Church of St. Martin in the Fields.
| year                  = 1724
| citation              = 10 Geo. 1. c. ''4'' {{small|Pr.}}
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 19 March 1724
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
[[File:St Martin-in-the-Fields Church Interior, London, UK - Diliff.jpg|thumb|left|Interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields]]

A survey of 1710 found that the walls and roof were in a state of decay. In 1720, Parliament passed an act of Parliament, the '''{{visible anchor|Church of St. Martin-in-the Fields Act 1719}}''' ([[6 Geo. 1]]. c. ''32'' {{small|Pr.}}) for the rebuilding of the church allowing for a sum of up to £22,000, to be raised by a rate on the parishioners. A temporary church was erected partly on the churchyard and partly on ground in Lancaster Court. Advertisements were placed in the newspapers that bodies and monuments of those buried in the church or churchyard could be taken away for reinterment by relatives.<ref name=survey/>

[[File:Lamp Post Detail.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Lamp post detail, London, UK]]

The rebuilding commissioners selected [[James Gibbs]] to design the new church. His first suggestion was for a church with a circular nave and domed ceiling,<ref name=pelican>{{cite book| last=Summerson| first=John| title=Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830| year=1970| series=Pelican History of Art| publisher=Penguin Books| location=Harmondsworth| isbn=978-0-14-056103-6| pages=[https://archive.org/details/architectureinbr0000summ/page/309 309–353]| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/architectureinbr0000summ/page/309}}</ref> but the commissioners considered this scheme too expensive. Gibbs then produced a simpler, rectilinear plan, which they accepted. The foundation stone was laid on 19 March 1722, and the last stone of the spire was placed into position in December 1724. The total cost was £33,661 including the architect's fees.<ref name=survey/>

The west front of St Martin's has a portico with a pediment supported by a giant order of Corinthian columns, six wide. The order is continued around the church by pilasters. In designing the church, Gibbs drew upon the works of [[Christopher Wren]], but departed from Wren's practice in his integration of the tower into the church. Rather than considering it as an adjunct to the main body of the building, he constructed it within the west wall, so that it rises above the roof, immediately behind the portico,<ref name=pelican/> an arrangement also used at around the same time by [[John James (architect)|John James]] at [[St George's, Hanover Square|St George, Hanover Square]] (completed in 1724), although James' steeple is much less ambitious.<ref name=pelican/> The spire of St Martin's rises {{convert|192|ft|m|abbr=on}} above the level of the church floor.<ref name=survey/>

The church is rectangular in plan, with the five-bay nave divided from the aisles by arcades of Corinthian columns. There are galleries over both aisles and at the west end. The nave ceiling is a flattened barrel vault, divided into panels by ribs. The panels are decorated in [[stucco]] with cherubs, clouds, shells and scroll work, executed by Giuseppe Artari and Giovanni Bagutti.<ref name=survey/>

Until the creation of Trafalgar Square in the 1820s, Gibbs's church was crowded by other buildings. [[James Peller Malcolm|J. P. Malcolm]], writing in 1807, said that its west front "would have a grand effect if the execrable watch-house and sheds before it were removed" and described the sides of the church as "lost in courts, where houses approach them almost to contact".<ref name=malcolm>{{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=James Peller |title=Londinium Redivivium, or, an Ancient History and Modern Description of London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sck_AAAAcAAJ&q=bourk |access-date=15 January 2014 |volume=4 |date=10 June 1807 |location=London |page=202}}</ref>

The design was criticised widely at the time, but subsequently became extremely famous, being copied particularly widely in the United States.<ref name="history">{{cite book |last=Sheppard |first=Francis |title=London: a history |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-285369-4| page=240}}</ref> Although Gibbs was discreetly [[Catholic]], his four-wall, long rectangular floor plan, with a triangular [[gable roof]] and a tall prominent centre-front [[steeple]] (and often, columned front-portico), became closely associated with [[Protestant]] church architecture world-wide.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Loth |first=Calder |title=Soaring Steeple and Classical Portico |url=https://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/soaring_steeple_and_classical_portico |journal=Sacred Architecture Journal |volume=26 |access-date=2020-08-06}}</ref>

In Britain, the design of [[St Andrew's in the Square]] church (built 1739–56) in Glasgow was inspired by the church. In the American Colonies, [[St. Michael's Anglican Church (Charleston, South Carolina)]] (built 1751–61), was heavily influenced by St Martin-in-the-fields, though the columns of its front portico are of the Tuscan order, rather than the Corinthian order. [[St. George's Church, Dublin]] (built 1802), though obviously influence by St Martin's-in-the-fields, that influence seems to be via St Andrews in the Square, as exampled in the copying of its Ionic columns instead of St Martin's Corinthian columns. In India, [[St Andrew's Church, Chennai|St Andrew's Church]], [[Egmore]] (built 1818–1821), Madras (now [[Chennai]]), is another example. In [[South Africa]], the Dutch Reformed Church in [[Cradock, Eastern Cape|Cradock]] is modelled on St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Various notables were soon buried in the new church, including the émigré sculptor [[Louis-François Roubiliac]] (who had settled in this area of London) and the furniture-maker [[Thomas Chippendale]] (whose workshop was in the same street as the church, St Martin's Lane<ref>When built the church faced into on St Martin's Lane; and it was only much later, with the construction of Trafalgar Square, that it attained the prominence that it has today.</ref>), along with [[Jack Sheppard]] in the adjoining churchyard. This churchyard, which lay to the south of the church, was removed to make way for Duncannon Street, constructed in the 19th century to provide access to the newly created Trafalgar Square.<ref name=mace>For the planning of Duncannon Street see {{cite book |last1=Mace |first1=Rodney |title=Trafalgar Square: Emblem of Empire |year=1975 |publisher= Lawrence & Wishart |location=London |isbn=0-85315-367-1 |page=36}}</ref> Two small parcels of the churchyard survived, to the north and east of the church. The [[Metropolitan Public Gardens Association]] laid them out for public use in 1887; unusually for the MPGA, it paved them with flagstones as well as planted them with trees. For many years covered in market stalls, the churchyard has been restored including with the provision of seating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://londongardenstrust.org/conservation/inventory/site-record/?ID=WST110a&sitename=St+Martin-in-the-Fields+Churchyard|title=London Gardens Trust: St Martin-in-the-Fields Churchyard|access-date=10 January 2021}}</ref>

Before embarking for the Middle East Campaign, [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Edmund Allenby]] was met by General [[Beauvoir De Lisle]] at the Grosvenor Hotel and convinced General Allenby with Bible prophecies of the deliverance of [[Jerusalem]]. He told General Allenby that the Bible said that Jerusalem would be delivered in that very year, 1917, and by Great Britain. General Beauvoir de Lisle had studied the prophecies, as he was about to preach at St Martin-in-the-Fields.<ref name=novak>{{cite web| url=http://frnovak.blogspot.com/2012/12/as-birds-flying-miracle-of-december-8th.html |last=Novak| first=Fr. Victor |title=AS BIRDS FLYING, The Miracle of December 8th |publisher=Frnovak.blogspot.com |date=7 December 2012 |access-date=16 November 2013}}</ref>

===Recent times===
[[File:Michael Elwyn on St Martin in the Field.ogg|thumb|Audio description of the church by [[Michael Elwyn]]]]
[[File:2005-06-19 - United Kingdom - England - London - Cafe in the Crypt.jpg|thumb|right|The ceiling of the café in the [[crypt]]]]
Because of its prominent position, St Martin-in-the-Fields is one of the most famous churches in London. [[Hugh Richard Lawrie Sheppard|Dick Sheppard]], [[Vicar]] from 1914 to 1927 who began programmes for the area's homeless, coined its ethos as the "Church of the Ever Open Door". The church is famous for its work with young and homeless people through [[The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields]],<ref name=conn>{{cite web| url=http://www.connection-at-stmartins.org.uk/| title=History| publisher=The Connection at St-Martin-in-the-fields| access-date=15 January 2014}}</ref> created in 2003 through the merger of two programmes dating at least to 1948. The Connection shares with The Vicar's Relief Fund the money raised each year by the [[BBC]] [[Radio 4 Appeal]]'s Christmas appeal.<ref name=stmhistory>{{cite web| url=http://www2.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/page/care/appeal.html| title=History| publisher=St Martin-in-the-Fields| access-date=15 January 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016020637/http://www2.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/page/care/appeal.html| archive-date=16 October 2012| df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The crypt houses a café which hosts [[jazz]] concerts whose profits support the programmes of the church. The crypt is also home to the London Brass Rubbing Centre, established in 1975 as an art gallery, book, and gift shop. A life-sized marble statue of [[Henry Croft (pearly)|Henry Croft]], London's first [[Pearly Kings and Queens|pearly king]], was moved to the crypt in 2002 from its original site at [[St Pancras and Islington Cemetery|St Pancras Cemetery]].

In January 2006, work began on a £36-million renewal project. The project included renewing the church itself, as well as provision of facilities encompassing the church's crypt, a row of buildings to the north and some significant new underground spaces in between. The funding included a grant of £15.35 million from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]]. The church and crypt reopened in the summer of 2008.<ref name=give>{{cite book| title=At the heart: The Renewal of St. Martin-in-the-fields| url=http://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/page/campaign/downloads/brochure.pdf| publisher=St Martin-in-the-Fields| year=2006| access-date=15 January 2014| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507130849/http://www2.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/page/campaign/downloads/brochure.pdf| archive-date=7 May 2012| df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Its present vicar is [[Sam Wells (priest)|Sam Wells]] (since 2012), who as well as being a priest is a renowned theologian and writer.

Twelve historic bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields, cast in 1725, are included in the peal of the [[Swan Bells]] tower in [[Perth]], Australia. The current set of twelve bells, cast in 1988, which replaced the old ones are rung every Sunday between 9{{nbsp}}am and 10{{nbsp}}am by the St Martin in the Fields Band of Bell Ringers.<ref name=bells>{{cite web| title=St Martin in the Fields Band of Bell Ringers Website| url=http://www.smitf-bells.co.uk/about/| publisher=St Martin in the Fields Band Of Bell Ringers| access-date=10 February 2015| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212164335/http://www.smitf-bells.co.uk/about/| archive-date=12 February 2015| df=dmy-all}}</ref> The bells are also rung by the Friends of Dorothy Society each year as part of [[Pride in London|London Pride]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Boyz|date=2018-12-20|title=Putting the camp into Campanology: Bellringing with the Friends of Dorothy Society|url=https://boyz.co.uk/2018/12/putting-the-camp-into-campanology-bellringing-with-the-friends-of-dorothy-society/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526204246/https://boyz.co.uk/2018/12/putting-the-camp-into-campanology-bellringing-with-the-friends-of-dorothy-society/ |archive-date=26 May 2021 |access-date=24 January 2025 |publisher=Boyz|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Friends of Dorothy Society - LGBT Archive|url=https://lgbthistoryuk.org/wiki/Friends_of_Dorothy_Society|access-date=2021-09-10|website=lgbthistoryuk.org}}</ref>