Parish Church Of St Margaret Of Antioch

The Parish Church of St Margaret of Antioch is a Grade II* listed building located on St Margaret's Street in Rochester. The church features a west tower built around 1458 to 1465, while the nave and chancel, along with the north and south aisles that include galleries, were constructed between 1823 and 1824 by architect Sydney Smirke. The sanctuary and side vestries were added in 1839 to 1840 by Richard Hussey, and a 'Decorated' style east window was inserted in 1872.

The west tower is made of random rubble ragstone with some flint dressings, while the rest of the church is likely built of brick and finished with stucco. It has a Welsh slate roof and consists of three stages, featuring a northeast polygonal stair turret, battlements, diagonal buttresses with flint panels, and three set-offs. The tower includes double belfry openings and a single trefoil-headed lancet on each face of the middle stage. Above a moulded doorway with a label, there is a perpendicular three-light west window.

The nave, which includes the chancel, has five bays with two tiers of windows, all set under elliptically-headed arches between broad pilasters. The eaves and verges are deeply overhanging, with the verges designed as pediments. The sanctuary is lower and has flanking offices, with the east end featuring pedimented verges and a three-light 'Decorated' east window alongside an original recessed round-headed window for the offices.

Inside, there are galleries on the north and south sides supported by wooden columns with Doric capitals below and Ionic capitals above. The ceiling is coffered, and there is a round-headed chancel arch. The medieval tower arch has been preserved. Notable monuments include a brass demi-figure commemorating Thomas Cod, who died in 1465, framed in a Victorian style, and a well-crafted rural monument to Thomas Manley Esq, who died in 1690, set in a foliage plaster frame with a heraldic device. There are also several other high-quality 18th and 19th-century rural monuments. The chancel and sanctuary feature complete tiling from the 1870s. A church guide titled "St Margaret's, Rochester, a Brief History" is available, though it is undated and lacks an author.