Church of St Margaret

Details

BARMING Church of TQ 75 SW 2/2 St Margaret 23.5.67 GV II*

Parish church. C13 and late C14/C15, with addition of 1850 by Hakewill. Sanctuary decoration 1898 by Comper. Nave and chancel ragstone rubble. Tower and north aisle roughly-coursed stone. Plain tile roofs. Wood shingles to spire. West tower. Continuous nave and chancel. South porch. North vestry. North aisle. West tower: late C14 or early C15. Two stages, on chamfered stone plinth. Battlemented above chamfered string. Octagonal spire with weathervane. Rectilinear south-east stair turret, becoming polygonal above belfry, rising above tower, and similarly battlemented. Belfry windows of 2 trefoil-headed lights with squared moulded hoodmoulds. Similar west window towards base of upper stage. Larger west window to lower stage, of two cinquefoil-headed lights, with cambered head and moulded hoodmould. Small chamfered pointed-arched west doorway with C19 moulded hoodmould. Nave: late C12 or C13 origins. Tufa quoins to west, possibly re-used. West end of nave overlaps tower stair turret. No plinth. C19 lancet to west of porch, and two C19 windows to east. Small low-set C14 cinquefoiled and ogee-headed light towards east end. Porch: late C14 or early C15. Large blocks of evenly-coursed stone. Low chamfered stone plinth. Small chamfered rectangular light to east and to west. Roof of morticed collars, with ashlar pieces and moulded wooden cornice. Continuous stone bench to each side. Moulded pointed-arched outer doorway with moulded hoodmould. Broad, pointed-arched, hollow- chamfered inner doorway with broach stops. Boarded door. Chancel: late C12 or C13. Tufa quoins to north and south. No plinth. Re-roofed in C19 with slightly higher ridge than nave. Low rectangular south light towards west end. Larger 2-light C19 south window, with straight tufa jambs of a blocked window to west of it. 3 small, widely-spaced, round-headed east lancets with tufa jambs, that to centre placed higher up within gable. C14 north window of 2 ogee-headed trefoiled lights and quatrefoil in an ogival, with restored roll-and-fillet hoodmould with grotesque heads to label stops. Vestry: C19. Coursed stone. Low, with coped north gable. North aisle: 1850, by Hakewill. Low eaves to north. 2 north buttresses. East window of 3 stepped lancets. 3 trefoil-headed north lights, and 2-light west window. Interior: structure: 3-bay C19 north arcade to nave in a C13 style. Late C14 or early C15 chancel arch, pointed, and doubly hollow-chamfered; attached semi-circular column to each side, with moulded capital and base. Tall,doubly plain-chamfered tower arch without imposts. Round-headed rere-arch of a splayed window to south side of west gable end of nave, blocked by tower. Roof: medieval common rafter roof to nave, with scissor-braces trenched past high collars. Ashlar pieces. Central tie-beam. C19 roof to chancel, of arch-braced collars, with collar purlin and curved ashlar-pieces. Fittings: octagonal font with chamfered base to bowl and tooled stone borders, set on later stem. Poor box in form of large C17 turned newel with square top. Stalls: probably German, circa 1300 (J. Newman). 3 wooden stall ends about 7' high, with free-standing sculpture above solid panelled bases. St. Michael slaying the devil, and Christ in limbo at opposite ends of one double stall. Samson and the lion at one end of a row of 4 seats. Carved ends to arm-rests of each seat, and short shafts with crocketed capitals beneath feet of each figure. Bull of St. Luke crouched between scrolls of a former intermediate stall end, now part of a reading desk. Poppyheads to ends of two stall fronts. Wall-painting: stencilled pattern of intertwined thorns and wreaths to splays of each east end window, with starred heavens to arch soffits. Gilded relief of Nativity between lower windows. All by Comper. (J. Newman, Buildings of England Series, West Kent and the Weald, 1980).

Listing NGR: TQ7188154503

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

174425

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Newman, J, The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald, (1980)

End of official list entry

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