HINTON MARTEL

St. John the Evangelist

Hinton Martel is a pleasant village, which is relatively quiet because no major road runs through it.  It has a mixture of old thatched cottages, farmyards converted into housing and modern buildings.  The church is well sited and, standing next to the old village school, difficult to miss.

The present structure replaced a much earlier version, which by 1869 had reached '..a state of general decay..' so that it was universally resolved to take it down and build a bigger new church on the site.  The estimated cost was £1,640, a huge sum for a parish largely consisting of farm labourers and without a wealthy landlord to help.  A £200 loan was promised by Queen Anne's Bounty and advertisements taken in local newspapers appealing for subscriptions.  At some point around this time there was a fire and there is some doubt about the provenance of the tower, which maybe the original 15c.  The money was raised and a new church built in 1870 to a design by G. R. Crickmay (the author Thomas Hardy was working for him at the time so there maybe some of his work here).  (The quite excellent church guide by Canon Wm Bernard suggests that the architect was John Hills of Dorchester, but since there is no reference to him in Pevsner's Guide, it is probably a misprint for John Hicks, who practiced in Dorchester and died in 1869 after which his outstanding work was carried forward by Crickmay).

The building has a splendid decorated wagon roof to the chancel and some superbly executed corbels by sculptors Boulton and Weaver.  The Purbeck stone font is 13c.  This is a 'High Church' and there are some beautiful artefacts associated with this calling of Christianity.