Martin is surrounded by prehistoric sites, including
Bokerley Dyke, and the very long
Grim's Ditch which extends into Dorset and Wiltshire. Martin is first documented around 945 when land at Martin formed part of a grant by
Edmund I to
Æthelflæd. At the time of the
Domesday Book of 1086 it was included in the manor of
Damerham, and subsequently descended with that manor. In 1266
Henry III granted to
Glastonbury Abbey a weekly Wednesday market in their manor of Martin, and a fair on the eve, day and morrow of the
Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and in 1332,
Edward III granted a market on Fridays. In 1483 part of the Abbot of Glastonbury's manor of East Martin was granted to
Richard III for the enlargement of his park of
Blagdon, Dorset. There was a manor of West Martin which may have originated as a grant of land from Damerham manor granted by
Henry de Sully, Abbot of Glastonbury in the 12th century. It was annexed before 1400 by Robert Petevyn, and afterwards belonged to the estate of Little Damerham. The nearby manor of Tidpit was also held of Glastonbury Abbey in the 13th century, and subsequently became merged with that of Damerham. ==Demographics==