Church Of St Margaret

Church of St Margaret

This is an early 16th-century church with 18th and 19th-century alterations and additions, located in Wrenbury cum Frith. The nave and porch were restored in 1794, the chancel was rebuilt in 1806, and the chancel was re-Gothicised in 1865. The building is constructed of red sandstone ashlar with a plain tile roof and comprises an aisled nave, chancel, and western tower.

The tower rises to the west and features diagonal buttresses with offsets on its western face. A doorway on the ground floor, now blocked to its lower body, has a window with interlacing tracery above it, shields to the spandrels, and a Tudor hood mould. Above this is a pointed arched window with deep chamfered surround containing 19th-century panel tracery and a hood mould with figurehead label stops. A string course separates this from a central lancet above, with a belfry opening containing two cusped lights and a quatrefoil above, fitted with louvres and topped with a hood mould. A gargoyle sits to the left of centre, and the tower is crowned with a battlemented parapet set with crocketed pinnacles at the corners. The northern side is plain to the lower body, with similar lancet and belfry openings above the string course as the western front. The southern face is essentially similar but features an octagonal staircase turret rising above the tower parapet and terminating in an ogee lead cap with a weather cock. Above the string course on this face is a circular iron clock face.

The nave comprises four bays with angle buttresses and chamfered window surrounds, each containing three lights with hood moulds. Buttresses between the windows have offsets. A battlemented parapet above is set with large robustly carved gargoyles. The southern side features a gabled porch to the left with diagonal buttresses, a battlemented parapet, and a central double doorway with a moulded surround. The clerestory, a later addition, consists of five bays with three-light windows with square tops. Two lead rainwater heads bearing the date 1794 are positioned on this side, and the parapet above is battlemented. The northern side has a blank bay to the right, to which a low 20th-century brick outshut has been added. To the left of this are four windows, each of three lights with hood moulds and figurehead label stops, with buttresses between having offsets. The clerestory on this northern side is similar to that on the southern side, with two similarly dated lead rainwater heads. A battlemented parapet crowns this section.

The chancel's north side is blank save for a lead downpipe with moulded brackets and a rainwater head dated 1806 at the re-entrant angle. The south side is similar but includes a priests' doorway with a pointed arch and double chamfered surround, along with a similar downpipe and rainwater head to the re-entrant angle. The eastern end has a three-light window of vaguely Perpendicular plate tracery and a blind quatrefoil to the apex dated AD 1806, with a battlemented parapet above.

Interior

The nave arcades feature octagonal piers. The northern arcade has slightly taller arches with capitals displaying different and apparently earlier moulding compared to those of the southern arcade. Marks on the western wall of the tower indicate the original roof level before the clerestory was added. The box pews to the nave and aisles are all of early 19th-century date, as is the western gallery, which features oval panels with trefoils to the spandrels and a diamond lattice pattern below with cusping forming quatrefoils. The square pulpit has chamfered corners and fluted pilasters.

The chancel contains a fine series of wall memorial tablets to the Cotton and Starkey families. Three memorials are by John Bacon junior: to Thomas Starkey of 1805, to J Jennings of London, brother of Elinor Starkey, of 1809, and to Elinor Starkey of 1815. Each shows figures in relief against an obelisk above rectangular tablets with an apron. A memorial by Turner, architect of Chester, commemorates Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton Bart. of Combermere Abbey, dated 1775, showing urns in relief against an obelisk. A memorial by Theed to Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere, dated 1865, displays classical figures with a portrait medallion to the surmount.