Having caught the train from Wool to Wareham, I walked from Wareham train station towards the town centre and soon passed St. Martin's church of which Margaret Marande informs is "believed to have been founded by St. Aldhelm in 698" ('The Hardy Way' page 54).
Have just read on the Internet that St. Aldhelm was an influential monk in the ancient kingdom of Wessex in the 7th and 8th centuries (e.g. being the Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey and Bishop of Sherborne).
Margaret Marande further explains that St. Martin's church "is the most complete example of a Saxon church in Dorset. The chancel and nave date from 1030; the wall paintings from the 12th century. The fine life-sized effigy of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) in Arab dress by his friend, the artist, official war artist and sculptor Eric Kennington, is enhanced by the simple tranquility of the place" ('The Hardy Way' page 51).
Unfortunately, when I arrived, the church was locked up so I couldn't take in the interesting atmosphere inside the church described above.
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