St Margaret's Church and churchyard

Reasons for Designation

A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little fabric of the first church being still easily visible. Parish churches are found throughout England. Their distribution reflects the density of population at the time they were founded. In regions of dispersed settlement parishes were often large and churches less numerous. The densest clusters of parish churches were found in thriving medieval towns. A survey of 1625 reported the existence of nearly 9000 parish churches in England. New churches built in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries increased numbers to around 18,000 of which 17,000 remain in ecclesiastical use. Parish churches have always been major features of the landscape and a major focus of life for their parishioners. They provide important insights into medieval and later population levels or economic cycles, religious activity, artistic endeavour and technical achievement. A significant number of surviving examples are identified to be nationally important.

St Margaret's Church is an unusual example of new church construction in the early-mid 17th century, when religious belief was rapidly changing and contentious. Its architecture and fittings (for which evidence is visible on the internal wall faces and will also survive in the deposits below ground) form important evidence for Anglican belief and practice in a rural area at this time.

Details

The monument includes the remains of St Margaret's Church and its associated cemetery, in a walled enclosure on a hilltop approximately 150m south of Chapel Farm. It is a Listed Building Grade II.

The church is a gabled rectangular structure of random rubble construction, measuring approximately 13.9m by 4.6m. There is rough ashlar facing externally, with traces of plastering to all internal faces.

The north elevation incorporates a two light mullioned window at either end, between which there is a larger window with its eastern embrasure missing. At the eastern end of the elevation is a blocked doorway, visible only from the outside, with a depressed pointed head, plainly chamfered.

The east elevation has a centrally placed, six light mullioned and transomed window, but the gable of this elevation is no longer extant.

The south elevation has a row of three, two light mullioned windows with square heads. The mullion of the central window is no longer extant and the western window is missing its mullion and western embrasure. At the western end of the elevation are the remains of a porch with the remnants of a doorway in its south elevation. The porch survives from 1m to 3m in height. Butted against the southern side of the porch is a later set of four stone steps approaching the doorway.

The west elevation retains its gable and remains of the bellcote. Centrally, the elevation contains a two light mullioned window, with a timber transom inserted across its internal recess at a later date. Above this window are two round-headed bell arches. Below the mullioned window, on the northern side, is a small rectangular squint piercing the elevation.

The church was built by Sir Posthumus Hoby in 1634 in memory of his wife Lady Margaret, who died the previous year. The site chosen was close to Dale Hall, which stood on the site of Chapel Farm. The church was abandoned in 1862 when a new church was built about a mile away. The roof was in a poor state in 1914 and has since fallen, but the surviving remains have been consolidated. The church stands within a rectangular churchyard, measuring approximately 26.5m by 23m and enclosed by a drystone wall, which is included in the scheduling. Within the churchyard are a large number of burial monuments.



MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

35561

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
The Victoria History of the County of North Riding of Yorkshire, (1923), 531-2
The Victoria History of the County of North Riding of Yorkshire, (1923), 531-2

End of official list entry

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