About St Martin's Church, Exeter, Devon
A thousand-year-old church in the heart of modern Exeter
St Martin's props up the black-and-white building of Mol's Coffee House on a corner of Exeter's historic Cathedral Close. It is one of the oldest buildings in the city, consecrated a year before the Norman Conquest, and was once one of six churches clustered in the cathedral's shadow.
It is the most important and complete church in the centre of Exeter, having escaped both Victorian refurnishing and the Second World War bombing that severely damaged many other Exeter churches.
The gallery has painted on it the arms of the city and of Bishop Trelawny, a local hero in Cornwall, who was imprisoned for libel by James II. There are also several magnificent monuments in the church including one of Philip Hooper (a benefactor who donated the reredos) splendidly bewigged, he kneels at a prayer desk with a skull and pile of books.
This beautiful church is available for lectures, conferences, music concerts and similar events.