St Martin's parish church stands in the centre of Bowness, on a site that has held a place of worship since at least the 11th century. The current building is mostly 15th-century, rebuilt after a fire in 1483, and is the oldest building of any consequence in the area. Inside it is darker and more atmospheric than the bustle outside might suggest.
The treasures are two. First, the east window, made up of fragments of medieval glass — including a Crucifixion and figures of saints — salvaged from Cartmel Priory at the Dissolution and reassembled here. Second, a recently-restored 16th-century Doom painting above the chancel arch, depicting the Last Judgement; long whitewashed over, it was rediscovered and painstakingly conserved in the 1990s. There is also a wooden effigy of a knight, traditionally said to be John Phillipson, an Elizabethan-era benefactor.