St Martin's Blackheath

Not far away from Swanvale Halt and up a steep hill from Wonersh lies the village of Blackheath with its small and highly unusual church of St Martin. Blackheath was originally part of Wonersh parish and became separate only after Sir William Robert-Austin, Deputy Master of the Royal Mint and Lay Reader at Wonersh, paid for it to be built in the 1890s. The church was designed by Charles H. Townsend, the architect of the Horniman Museum and the Whitechapel Art Gallery, and while it's not as striking in pure architectural terms as those remarkable buildings, it certainly cuts a dash in the Surrey hills, looking for all the world like an Italian wayside chapel. It was decorated with frescos showing episodes from the life of Christ and an image of St Martin, and later on lined with alabaster as a memorial to the man who founded it. The great gold chancel screen only increases the impression of foreign-ness, but not in the baroque style of Anglo-Papalist taste.

As you can see the Sacrament is still reserved at St Martin's and although it is now once again part of Wonersh Parish, which has a broadly evangelical stance, its style remains distinct. Long may it be so!