St. Martin's church is on the east side of West Stockwell Street at its junction with Quakers Alley. It dates from 12th century with additions in 14th century. It is built of septaria, flint rubble and reused Roman Brick.
The top of its tower was destroyed by cannon fire in 1648 during the Civil War siege. It has never been repaired as St. Martin’s was always a poor church. Following the Civil War damage, the church fell into disrepair and by 1748 was in a ruinous condition and no services were being held in it.
Sir George Gilbert Scott was apparently ‘so taken with [the church]’, that in 1876 he revealed and restored barrel-vaulted chancel roof at his own expense. It then became neglected again and was declared redundant by the Church of England in 1953 but was never deconsecrated.
It was used by a theatre group as a rehearsal space from 1957 and discos were held there on Friday nights in the 1970s. The theatre group painted the walls black. They stopped using it when it became structurally unsafe in 1987.
In 1996 the Churches Conservation Trust took charge of it and emergency repairs were carried out by English Heritage. The Church Conservation Trust then continued to repair and restore it. This was completed in 2023. In January 2022 it was bought the local St Helen's Chapel Antiochian Parish (Greek Orthodox Church).
So, it has been a Catholic Church, an Anglian Church, damaged in a civil war, a theatre space, a disco and a Greek Orthodox Church which probably makes its history unique!
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