Church Of St Margaret Of Antioch

Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Stanford Rivers

A parish church of considerable architectural interest, combining medieval fabric from the 12th century onwards with later modifications and fittings.

The nave dates to the 12th century. The chancel is 14th-century work, with a 16th-century brick clerestorey added above. A 15th-century timber-framed bell turret, weatherboarded and topped with a lead spire, stands over the nave. Flanking porches of 15th-century date occupy the north and south sides; the north porch is now blocked, while the south porch was converted into a vestry in the early 19th century. A west entrance porch with gallery beneath the bell turret was added around 1815. The walls are of flint rubble faced with cement, and the roofs are covered in red plain tiles.

The chancel east wall contains three-light cusped windows with tracery in two-centred heads and labels. The clerestorey features three windows to both north and south walls, each of one light with a rounded head and square moulded label, dating to the early 16th century. Below these, the north wall displays a 14th-century two-light window with trefoiled ogee heads and tracery in a two-centred head with moulded label. The south wall contains two similar windows and a late 15th or early 16th-century three-light window with cinquefoils in a segmental pointed head. A 14th-century blocked doorway with a two-centred head lies between the latter windows. Evidence of a destroyed chancel arch remains visible.

The nave north wall contains two 14th-century windows of three trefoiled lights in two-centred heads, and a 12th-century single light with a round head.

The north porch features a modern inner door with segmental pointed arch, and an outer door of plank and muntin construction with chamfered jambs and four-centred arch with trefoiled spandrels and narrow panels above. Flanking the uprights are narrow panels with trefoiled and traceried heads. Above the tie beam, an upright contains a sunk panel with trefoiled ogee head.

The south porch is rendered and contains a 19th-century timber three-light Gothic window. A modern doorway preserves the semi-circular rear arch of the 12th-century original doorway. The south wall contains three windows similar to those in the north wall.

The chancel roof features moulded and crenellated wall plates of seven cants, probably 16th-century in date. The nave roof comprises three bays with chamfered wall plates, cross-quadrate crown posts, and plain four-arm arched braces.

The west wall contains a 19th or 20th-century door and three-light window above a 12th-century single light round-headed window. A 19th-century timber porch with flat canopy and six-panel double doors stands here.

The 14th-century bell turret is a rectangular timber structure standing on two portal frames with elaborate intersecting arch-braces, constructed entirely of medieval timber throughout, including the spire (documented by C. A. Hewett in Church Carpentry, 1974).

The interior contains significant medieval and later fittings. Communion rails of 17th-century date have turned balusters and posts. The font, of Barnack stone with an octagonal bowl bearing two pointed panels on each face and a round stem with eight attached shafts, dates to the early 13th century. The pulpit incorporates six 16th-century panels and stands in the gallery. Nine traceried heads from a former screen are displayed in the gallery front. Chancel seating is backed by 16th and 17th-century panelling. The nave contains 15th-century benches with moulded rails and ends decorated with moulded buttresses, alongside box pews with wall panels.

The church retains several monumental brasses. On the north wall of the chancel is a brass to Thomas Grene, bailiff of the town, dated 1535. The south wall holds a brass to Katherine, wife of Richard Mulcaster, dated 1609. In the nave, a brass on the south wall commemorates Anne (Skelton), wife of William Napper, dated 1584, depicting a kneeling woman with six sons, all set within a stone tablet with flanking pilasters and a round arch. A heavy plain oak chest with later locks is also present, and 17th-century floor slabs commemorate various members of the Petre family.