Church of St Margaret, Warwick Road, Olton

The Church of St Margaret was built in 1879 by John George Bland (1820-1898) and greatly extended in 1896 by Benjamin Corser (1840-1918).

Materials and Construction

The walls are constructed of sandstone blocks brought to course, with ashlar used for the older nave and northern transepts, and rock-faced stonework for the later additions. Windows, dressings, architectural details and copings are in Bath stone. The roof is covered with clay tiles.

Plan

The church follows a cruciform plan, orientated south-east to north-west, though for clarity it is described here with conventional east-west orientation (placing the chancel customarily at the east end). The largest element is the rectangular nave at the west end, with its shorter ends facing east and west. The chancel adjoins the nave to the east, also rectangular but shorter and narrower. Both nave and chancel have their own north and south transepts, with the nave's transepts wider than those of the chancel. The south nave transept has a single-storey element to its south with a bellcote above. The southern chancel transept is narrower than its northern counterpart, which allows space for a small porch to the east, with the chancel roof continuing in a catslide east of the porch. North and south aisles run the full length of the nave, positioned west of the transepts.

Exterior

The roofs over the nave, chancel, porches and transepts are pitched, while the aisle roofs are mono-pitched against the nave walls. The south slope of the chancel roof extends in a catslide covering the vestry, and this catslide is itself partially covered by the pitched roof of the south porch. The nave, chancel and transept roofs have slightly raised parapets to their gables beneath coping stones. A stone chimney stack for the vestry rises through the south slope of the chancel roof. All gable ends have Bath stone kneelers, and the gables of the nave and transepts (except the narrower south chancel transept) have platbands. The nave transept gables feature cinquefoil niches between the platbands, while the north chancel transept gable has a double lancet niche. Pinnacles crown all the gable apices: Celtic crosses top the nave and chancel, fleur-de-lys ornament the nave transepts, and Latin crosses the chancel transepts.

The architectural style is Geometrical, or Decorated, Gothic. Windows feature bar tracery except in the north chancel transept, which has plate tracery. Doors, windows to the chancel and transepts, and the west nave window have hood moulds springing from corbels, some carved as detailed heads, others left as blank cubes. Angled buttresses mark the building's corners, with one or two steps depending on height, all topped with stone coping. A continuous stone plinth course runs around the lower part of the building, varying with the site topography but typically four to six stone courses above ground level. Both nave and chancel have drip moulds at the window cill level, though these do not continue to the aisles or chancel transepts.

North Elevation

The north elevation of the church's east end consists of the north chancel wall, which has a pair of two-lancet Geometrical windows separated by a buttress. To the west stands the gable end of the chancel transept with a two-lancet Geometrical window in plate tracery rather than the bar tracery used elsewhere. Angle buttresses mark the junction with the larger nave transept adjoining to the west. The nave transept contains two two-lancet Geometrical windows. West of the nave transept, the aisle wall features three triple-lancet windows separated by buttresses, then a double doorway above which the aisle roof rises to a pitched dormer, creating a triangular gable above the door. Four small hexafoil windows in a stone surround appear in the nave clerestory above the aisle.

East Elevation

The east elevation of the chancel is dominated by a large Geometrical window with four lancets beneath two trefoils and a large hexafoil. South of this is the double lancet window to the chancel's south transept under its catslide roof section, with the small porch to the vestry under its pitched roof and hood-moulded arched doorway south of that. Behind the porch roof, the east-facing roof slopes of the chancel and nave transepts are visible. To the north stands the east wall of the chancel's north transept with its two-lancet window, and beyond this the roof slope of the higher nave transept.

South Elevation

When viewed from the south, the west end of the church is largely obscured by a 1970s extension. A small external store under a flat roof is built against the eastern part of the 1970s block. This 1970s work cuts into the single-storey mono-pitch roofed choir vestry at the south end of the nave's south transept. The south elevation of the single-storey choir vestry has a double-lancet window, and its east end supports a bellcote which joins at right angles to the nave's south transept above. The nave's south transept itself has a pair of two-lancet windows above the mono-pitch roof. The chancel's south transept, lit by a three-lancet window, adjoins the nave transept to the east. East of the chancel transept is the south wall of the small south porch (now internally part of the vestry), which has two small windows under a pitched roof and stands at right angles to the chancel transept roof. Easternmost is the south chancel wall, which has a two-lancet Geometrical window.

West Elevation

The west elevation features a central doorway to the nave under a shallow porch with a pitched roof. A large Geometrical window sits above the porch, with four lancets below two trefoils and a hexafoil. The east ends of the aisles each have a double lancet window and are separated from the nave by two-stepped buttresses. The 1970s hall (not included in this list entry) extends to the south.

Interior

The shallow porch at the west end of the nave has internal walls in English garden wall bond brick, a medieval-style encaustic tile floor and timber-boarded ceiling. From the porch, double doors in a chamfered stone surround lead into the nave, where the inner side of the door surround has a hood mould springing from two carved corbels. The nave has aisles to north and south, with the east ends of the aisles divided by arches from the nave's transepts. Three marble steps rise from the crossing into the chancel under a large arch, and the altar is set over a marble block.

The chancel has its own transepts, adjoining and east of the nave's transepts. Each of the nave transepts serves as a side chapel, while the north chancel transept houses the organ. The southern side chapel uses both nave and chancel transepts, but the south transepts are deeper than those to the north, with the choir vestry and the vestry reached through separate doors in the southern walls of the south transepts. The choir vestry provides access through to the 1970s extension in the west. The aisle walls are built in twelve courses of brick in English garden wall bond, capped by a rail, above which the walls are rendered. Other walls are rendered throughout.

The floors of the naves and aisles are covered by square-set red quarry tiles, with the pews on pine boards. The chancel has a mosaic floor in the part nearest the crossing, then encaustic tiles in the sanctuary, with the remainder including the steps to the altar carpeted. The north chancel transept is carpeted, while the south transept has diagonally set black and red quarry tiles.

The roof timbers in the nave are exposed, showing trusses alternating between a simpler truss with tie beam and collar, and a more elaborate one augmented by arch braces. The simpler trusses spring from the sole plate over the clerestory; the braced trusses are supported by posts on carved stone corbels on the upper aisle walls. The chancel roof has braced trusses with steel ties.

The church is enhanced throughout with rich carvings, particularly in the variety of flowers and vegetation shown in the capitals of the columns supporting the double-chamfered arches of the aisle arcade and partitioning the chancel from its south transept. This well-executed figurative detailing also appears in the corbels supporting the chancel arch, and on a smaller scale in the corbels that spring other arches and hood moulds, and those for the posts supporting the more elaborate nave roof trusses.

Fixtures, Fittings, Stained Glass and Memorials

Over the door to the west porch at the back of the nave hangs an elaborate alabaster surround commemorating those of the parish who lost their lives in the First World War. The west window above is also a war memorial and was made by Hardman and Company in 1920. In the north transept of the nave, the stained glass in the north wall is also by Hardman's and dates to 1924, accompanied by a wall tablet below dedicating both itself and the window to Arthur Butler, the first vicar of St Margaret's, who served over 40 years in that position. The north chancel transept houses the organ of 1900, made by Norman and Beard of Norwich.

A brass plaque to the landowner James Kent (died 1903) on the south pier of the crossing states that the mosaic floor, choir stalls and reading desk were donated by William Ward. Many of the furnishings are by Benjamin Corser, including the alabaster pulpit depicting St Margaret with the dragon at her feet at the north pier of the crossing, and the low, solid carved alabaster screen either side of the steps up from nave to chancel (both 1898 and carved by Bridgeman's of Lichfield). In the chancel, Corser also designed the alabaster front screen to the choir stalls and timber altar rail (both 1904) and the oak lectern (1913). Behind the altar stands an alabaster reredos by Corser (1901) with three central ogee-headed niches housing a carved Latin cross flanked by kneeling figures, with ogee-arched panels to either side running the width of the chancel. A brass plaque in a niche within the alabaster reredos records that it and the adjoining sedilia commemorate Joan Barker. The south and east chancel windows are by Ward and Hughes of 1895. The north chancel window dates from 1886 and is by Thomas William Camm (1839-1912). The east window of the southern side chapel is by Hardman's from 1959. The north aisle windows are by Clayton and Bell from 1911. The font at the west end of the south aisle is alabaster by Corser, carved by Bridgman's, and dates to 1913. Its oak cover is from 1920.