Description

TF 35 SE SIBSEY CHURCH STREET
(east side)

8/37 Church of
St. Margaret
3.2.67
G.V. I

Parish church. C12, C13, C14, C15, 1699, restored 1840. Chancel
rebuilt and aisles and nave partly rebuilt 1855 by Kirk, repaired
1880. Ashlar, some red brick patching. Lead and plain and fish
scale tile roofs, some slate. Parapets with coped gables.
Single ridge cross to the east chancel, east nave with finial.
Stack to vestry. Tower, nave, south aisle, south porch,
north aisle, north vestry and chancel. Tower, set on a moulded
plinth, of 4 stages with angle buttresses to the lower 3 stages
and clasping buttresses to the top stage. Embattled parapet with
2 gargoyles to each side. The west front has a single C14 arched
2 light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and worn
label stops. Over is a single cinquefoil arched niche. The
south front has a pointed chamfered arched doorway and 3 small
rectangular stair lights. At the second stage to west, north and
south sides are single double chamfered C13 lancets with C19 hood
mould and label stops. Single clock face over the west side.
Each side of the third stage has a single large C13 round arched
2 light window with colonnettes with shaft rings and moulded
capitals alternating with heavy nail head moulding to jambs and
arches, plate tracery with single quatrefoil. Billet hood mould.
At the fourth stage are 4 C15 4 centred arched openings each with
2 pointed segmental arched lights surmounted by 2 arched lights
and tracery. Hood moulds and label stops. The north aisle is
set on a chamfered and moulded plinth and has in the west wall a
single C19 arched 3 light window with cusped tracery. The north
wall has a single restored C15 arched 3 light window with cusped
tracery, to the left is a single similar 2 light window. Further
left is a C12 round arched doorway with crenellated moulding to
the arch and single pair of colonnetes with worn scalloped
capitals supporting roll moulding. Hood mould and worn dragon
head label stops. On the far left are 2 similar restored 3 light
C15 windows. In the clerestory are 5 arched 2 light C15 windows
with cusped panel tracery and hood moulds. The chancel is set on
a chamfered plinth. The north chancel has a single arched 2
light restored C14 window with reticulated tracery and single
transom being blocked below, hood mould and human head label
stops. To the left is the vestry set on a chamfered plinth with
Caernarvon arched doorway to the north, the east wall with single
window with 2 pointed arched lights. To the left in the chancel
is a single heavily restored C15 arched 3 light window with
cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops.
Continuous sill band extending around the east and most of the
south chancel. East chancel has a single large arched 5 light
C19 window with cusped tracery, hood mould and C14 label stops.
The south chancel has 2 restored C15 arched 3 light windows with
cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. To the
left is a double chamfered arched doorway with hood mould and
human head label stops, and on the far left a single arched
restored C14 window with reticulated tracery and single transom
being blocked below, hood mould and human head label stops. The
south aisle is set on a moulded plinth, the east wall has a
single segmental arched 3 light C14 window with reticulated
tracery and hood mould. Continuous stepped sill band which
extends to the south wall which has 2 similar windows and hood
moulds. To the left and breaking the band is the gabled porch
dated 1617 with double chamfered and moulded arched entrance.
Imposts and decorative keystone. Triangular hood mould
continuing to east and west sides. Interior with 5 transverse
ribs, the northernmost with inscription and date. Moulded
pointed arched doorway. To the left and in the west wall are
single similar 3 light C14 windows, sill band to south window
only. The clerestory corresponds to the north. Interior. 5 bay
nave arcades with single step arches. C12 circular piers and
responds, heightened from 7 ft. in 1840, with square abaci and
scalloped capitals. The south east and north west responds with
leaf crockets. The bases with delicate roll moulding. Early C14
tower arch with 2 sunk wave mouldings supported on triple shafts
with fillet. Hood mould and decorative label stops. Double
chamfered chancel arch, the inner order supported on circular
responds. To the south, in the nave, is a doorway formerly to
rood loft. Chancel with C19 tripartite sedilia with trefoil
arches. To the left is a single chamfered arched piscina.
Double chamfered pointed arched vestry doorway. Probably C16
octagonal ashlar font. The base, decorated with stylised
fleuron, is surmounted by 8 small piers which support the bowl
decorated with intersecting tracery and stylised fleuron. South
aisle with doorway to rood stairs. Door decorated with remains
of C14 screen with blind cusped tracery. South wall with ogee
arched piscina. West nave wall with evidence of former roof
line. 2 C17 and 2 C18 floor slabs. It was from this church that
Annie Bessant wife of the then rector fled to London where she
became involved in the study of Eastern religions. She was later
to become a major influence upon the thinking and spiritual
development of Gandhi.

Listing NGR: TF3544050743

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526236

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)