St Martin's Church, Ashton upon Mersey

St Martin’s Church stands in Ashton upon Mersey, a district of Sale in Greater Manchester. It is an active Anglican parish church built mainly of Lymm sandstone with slate and tile roofs. The building has a wide nave of four bays, a south porch, a north baptistery, and a square tower with a timber-framed top stage. The tower holds a clock face, gables on each side, and an elaborate weather vane. An octagonal baptistery with a pyramidal roof was added in the 19th century. The church’s history begins with a timber-framed building erected in 1304 on the site of an old Saxon burial place. In 1704 a storm destroyed the church, and a new one was built in 1714 for Joshua Allen. George Truefitt designed a new tower in 1887 for Sir Williams Cunliffe Brooks, and a ring of thirteen bells was installed the same year. W. H. Brakspear added a baptistry in 1874, and a lych gate was built in 1887. Inside, a gallery sits at the west end beneath a double hammer-beam roof. The chancel walls are panelled with the ends of former box pews, and two fonts remain from the 16th and 18th centuries. The churchyard contains a Grade II sundial from the early 19th century and a Grade II lych gate designed by Truefitt. Sixteen war graves lie in the churchyard, eight from each world war.