Church Of St Margaret

Church of St Margaret

A parish church of major historical importance, developed over several centuries from the 12th century onwards, with significant rebuilding campaigns in 1855 and restoration work in 1880. The church stands on Church Street in Sibsey and comprises a tower, nave with south aisle and north aisle, south porch, north vestry, and chancel.

The exterior is built of ashlar with some red brick patching, with lead and plain and fish scale tile roofs, and some slate. The parapets feature coped gables, and there is a single ridge cross to the east of the chancel with a finial, and a stack to the vestry.

The tower is the dominant feature, set on a moulded plinth with four stages. The lower three stages have angle buttresses, while the top stage has clasping buttresses. The embattled parapet has two gargoyles on each side. The west front contains a single 14th-century arched two-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and worn label stops. Above this is a single cinquefoil arched niche. The south front has a pointed chamfered arched doorway and three small rectangular stair lights. At the second stage on the west, north and south sides are single double-chamfered 13th-century lancets with 19th-century hood moulds and label stops. A single clock face is positioned over the west side. Each side of the third stage has a single large 13th-century round-arched two-light window with colonnettes with shaft rings and moulded capitals alternating with heavy nail head moulding to the jambs and arches. The tracery is plate tracery with a single quatrefoil, and there is a billet hood mould. At the fourth stage are four 15th-century four-centred arched openings, each containing two pointed segmental arched lights surmounted by two arched lights and tracery, with hood moulds and label stops.

The north aisle is set on a chamfered and moulded plinth. In the west wall is a single 19th-century arched three-light window with cusped tracery. The north wall has a single restored 15th-century arched three-light window with cusped tracery, to the left of which is a single similar two-light window. Further left is a 12th-century round-arched doorway with crenellated moulding to the arch and a single pair of colonnettes with worn scalloped capitals supporting roll moulding. The hood mould has worn dragon head label stops. On the far left are two similar restored three-light 15th-century windows. The clerestory contains five arched two-light 15th-century windows with cusped panel tracery and hood moulds.

The chancel is set on a chamfered plinth. The north chancel has a single arched two-light restored 14th-century window with reticulated tracery and a single transom being blocked below, with hood mould and human head label stops. To the left is the vestry, set on a chamfered plinth, with a Caernarvon arched doorway to the north. The east wall of the vestry has a single window with two pointed arched lights. To the left in the chancel is a single heavily restored 15th-century arched three-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. A continuous sill band extends around the east and most of the south chancel. The east chancel has a single large arched five-light 19th-century window with cusped tracery, hood mould and 14th-century label stops. The south chancel has two restored 15th-century arched three-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 14th-century window with reticulated tracery and a 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 three-light 14th-century window with reticulated tracery and hood mould. A continuous stepped sill band extends to the south wall, which has two similar windows and hood moulds. Breaking this band on the left is the gabled porch dated 1617, featuring a double-chamfered and moulded arched entrance with imposts and decorative keystone. A triangular hood mould continues to the east and west sides. The interior of the porch has five transverse ribs, the northernmost bearing an inscription and date. There is a moulded pointed arched doorway, and in the west wall are two single similar three-light 14th-century windows, with a sill band to the south window only. The porch clerestory corresponds to the north aisle clerestory.

The interior of the church contains five-bay nave arcades with single step arches, 12th-century circular piers and responds with square abaci and scalloped capitals. These piers were heightened from seven feet in 1840. The south-east and north-west responds have leaf crockets, and the bases feature delicate roll moulding. The early 14th-century tower arch has two sunk wave mouldings supported on triple shafts with a fillet, hood mould and decorative label stops. The chancel arch is double-chamfered with the inner order supported on circular responds. In the nave to the south is a doorway formerly leading to the rood loft. The chancel contains 19th-century tripartite sedilia with trefoil arches. To the left is a single chamfered arched piscina. There is a double-chamfered pointed arched vestry doorway. The font, probably of 16th-century date, is octagonal and of ashlar. The base is decorated with stylised fleurons and is surmounted by eight small piers which support the bowl, decorated with intersecting tracery and stylised fleurons. The south aisle has a doorway to the rood stairs, and the door bears the remains of a 14th-century screen with blind cusped tracery. The south wall contains an ogee-arched piscina. The west nave wall shows evidence of a former roof line. The floor contains two 17th-century and two 18th-century slabs.

The church is historically significant as the place from which 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 Mahatma Gandhi.