St Martin's is a grade 1 listed building and is a stones throw away from Parliament Hill. The church was described by Pevsner as the 'craziest of London's Vicorian churches', adorned as it was, with pinnacles, like some fairy tale castle, was built in 1865. During the late 1960s and 1970s nearly all of the nineteenth century houses were swept away in a comprehensive redevelopment by the London Bor
ough of Camden and replaced by new flats. A whole local community round the church had to be rebuilt and Tom Dixon, vicar from 1966, describes his work during this period in his book 'Operation skyscraper, a story of London's inner city'. The church's most notable feature is the tall tower (the pinnacles were removed after damage) of which it is said: 'Most towers answer a question. The original six bells all have inscriptions and are regularly rung today. Inside, the huge dark timber roof strikes the visitor most, together with an impression of space beneath. An apsidal sanctuary, since 1965 painted in bright colours, catches the eye beyond the nave to the east. Tall plain windows in the two transepts and at the west end of the church now fill it with light. The east window contains the only complete original glass that survives. The two memorial windows, by the William Morris London factory, were given in the early 1900s and depict Christ the Good Shepherd and St. The pews, with their iron umbrella holders are original. A memorial tablet, placed there by his family, commemorates John Derby Allcroft on the south wall and above the door form the church into the hall, hangs an oil painting 'Age of Dawn', by Harry Maude Jonas, given by the late Joseph Sickert in memory of his grandson, Joseph Brown, who died in 1990 aged eight years.
