Description

SS 91 NW STOODLEIGH STOODLEIGH

9/171 Church of St Margaret
-
5.4.66
GV II*

Parish church. Font probably C12; west tower, western bays of nave and aisle C15,
church extended by one bay to the east, chancel rebuilt and whole church thoroughly
restored 1872-9 by Henry Woodyer at a total cost of £2,300. Medieval masonry rubble.
C19 masonry snecked stone; red tiled roof.
Plan and Development Woodyer extended the nave and aisle by one bay and entirely
rebuilt the chancel and aisle south wall incorporating the medieval south doorway and
some earlier masonry. Flamboyant window tracery is Woodyer's design. Plan of west
tower, nave, chancel, 4-bay south aisles south chancel chapel, south porch. Chancel
roof carried down as catslide over north-east vestry.
Exterior: C15 battlemented tower with a plinth, diagonal buttresses and a 3-sided
north-east stair turrett. Medieval 4-centred west doorway, 3-light C19 Perpendicular
west window; bay 2-light C19 traceried openings on all 4 faces. The nave has
buttresses and 2- and 3-light Perpendicular windows except a C19 Decorated pulpit
window to the east of the rectangular stair turret. The south chancel chapel is
defined by a string course, buttresses and C19 Decorated windows. Woodyer's chancel
is buttressed with a string course and a 3-light flamboyant east window, the
hoodmould carried down on corbels below the sill. Gabled south porch with a 2-
centred outer doorway and C19 roof and a C19 outer order added to the late medieval
moulded inner doorway; probably C17 panelled door.
Interior: Chancel and most fittings by Woodyer; notable late medieval nave roof.
Rendered walls, the edge of the render decorated to draw attention to the medieval
openings. Tall medieval chamfered tower arch with pyramid stops and abutment to the
north and south faces; richly moulded chancel arch by Woodyer with moulded responds
and carved capitals. 4-bay arcade, the easternmost bay a Woodyer copy of the late
medieval slender piers with corner shafts carrying moulded Tudor arches on foliage-
carved capitals. Depressed medieval segmental arch presumably resited between
chancel and south chancel chapel with C19 parclose. Hagioscope pierces the same
wall. Fine late medieval open wagon roof to the nave, presumably extended by
Woodyer, with moulded ribs and an unusual variety of carved bosses; wall plates
carved with rustic green men. Unceiled wagon to aisle with moulded ribs; boarded
wagon to chancel with moulded ribs and small bosses.
Fittings: Very complete Woodyer fittings to chancel: stone and local marble reredos
with symbols of the evangelists painted in gold; 1879 tiling; poppyhead choir stalls,
the book rests on iron standards; communion rail with iron standards; low timber
chancel screen with traceried panels. The nave has an unusual possibly C12 font; a
round bowl on a cylindrical stem decorated with 2 carved profile heads and mouldings
on the base; C19 font cover in the Romanesque style. 1879 brattished stone pulpit
with bold tracery panels; 1879 plain square-headed bench ends.
Important set of ten Hardman windows with memorial dates between 1862 and 1910: a
series which adds to the coherence of the interior. C19 brass fittings in chancel
possibly also by Hardman. Painted Royal Arms dated 1742 in frame on nave wall.

Listing NGR: SS9225818830

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531284

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]