Church Of St Margaret

Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Downham

The Church of St Margaret of Antioch comprises a nave and chancel rebuilt by architect G.E. Street in 1871, with a west tower largely dating to around 1500. The building suffered severe fire damage in 1977.

The tower is constructed in red brick with diagonal buttresses, a raised 19th-century castellated parapet, and a rectangular cornice staircase turret. The lower stage contains some black brick diapering. The nave and chancel are built in dressed stone with pudding stone and flint and are buttressed on all elevations, with a late 20th-century tiled roof.

On the south elevation of the nave sits a 14th-century arched doorway with carved face stops, with a 16th-century stoop within the rebuilt south porch. Both north and south elevations feature two-light 14th-century windows with 20th-century replaced glass, which were almost certainly reset by Street during the 1871 rebuilding and apparently partially restored afterwards. The east window has three lights with tracery restored after the fire.

The interior contains a reredos of around 1871 which has been restored, comprising a central panel depicting the cross flanked by two smaller panels with stone ogee-arched heads. All windows have replaced stained glass including at the east end. The church furniture is late 20th-century. Some 18th-century monuments from the earlier church remain on the west wall of the nave and in the base of the tower. Two small 14th-century brasses are located on the north chancel wall, while the south wall contains a rebuilt piscine and single sedilia. The tower has a brick stairway at its south-east corner and is said to contain a 16th-century timber door on the first floor.

The former stone font, with a bowl possibly dating to the 15th century, is located in the churchyard. To the north of the church stands a former stable and a 16th-century dovecote, re-erected in its current position from a nearby farmstead in the 1990s. The Lych-gate appears to be 19th or 20th-century in date.

The church rebuilt by G.E. Street replaced a probably 14th-century structure. Street's 1870s reconstruction involved a total rebuild of the medieval building, incorporating 14th-century windows and doors. The west tower dates to around the 15th century, though mid-18th-century illustrations by Inigo Richards indicate that the north elevation was principally of stone at that time. Tower restoration also occurred in the 1870s, including reconstruction of the plinth with later 19th-century bricks, raising of the parapet, restoration of the west doorway, and reconstruction of the west window. In 1977, fire caused severe damage to the vestry, nave and south porch, destroying the roof, all glass except the west window of the tower, and the pews, organ, pulpit and choir stalls. Following substantial efforts by the congregation, the church was rebuilt, though only Street's reredos survives from the interior of his 1870s work.