Church of St Margaret of Antioch

Details

BARLEY CHURCH END TL 4038 (South side) Barley

8/82 Church of St. Margaret 27.5.68 of Antioch (formerly listed as Church of St. Margaret)

GV II*

Parish church. C12 origins. Late C13 or early C14 S aisle, enlarged later in C14. Tower raised in C15. S aisle altered in C16. Chancel and nave rebuilt, N aisle, porch, vestry/organ bay and spirelet added 1871 by W. Butterfield. Flint and pebble rubble with some herringbone coursing in tower, knapped on C19 elevations. Stone dressings. Tiled and leaded roofs, leaded and shingled Spirelet. 3 bay nave extended by 1 bay to E, W tower, S aisle extended to W. N aisle and porch, chancel and SE vestry/organ bay in High Victorian Gothic Style. 3 stage W tower: 2 lower stages are C12. Lowest stage to W has a traceried 2 light pointed arched C19 window. 3 sides of 2nd stage have restored C12 round headed windows, roll moulded surrounds with bases. To NW a 3 stage diagonal buttress addition. String course to C15 belfry stage, 2 light louvred openings with pointed arched foiled heads, string course with grotesque carvings to embattled parapet. Octagonal spirelet with squat leaded base to open traceried bell chamber, shingled head with weathervane. S aisle: C14 added bay, now a vestry, extends as far W as tower. C14 curvilinear traceried 2 light pointed arched W window. Plinth and string courses. Diagonal buttresses. Embattled parapet. S elevation has a blocked C14 entrance to left of centre, double wave moulded pointed arch with hood mould, three 3 light C16 windows, hollow moulded 4 centred arched heads, hood moulds, rectilinear traceried heads except to slightly later central window, a C19 vestry entrance to far left, central buttress. C19 N aisle has three 2 light windows with pointed foiled heads, string course at sill level, stone bands at sill and impost levels and moulded to eaves. Diagonal buttress to NE with a similar 2 light window to E return. Porch towards W end is gabled with an outer moulded pointed arch, coped parapet with ridge cross, kneelers over small buttresses on returns with string courses. Inner entrance is a heavily moulded arch with shafted jambs. Unbuttressed W end of N aisle has a hexafoil opening with a string course surround. Chancel is as wide and nearly as tall as nave, both have steeply pitched roofs, coped gable parapets with ridge crosses to E, crest tiles on nave. Chancel to N has two 2 light windows as on N aisle, ball-flower frieze to close eaves. Foundation stone to NE dated 'S. Marks Day 1871'. Chancel E end: double plinth, large 3 light pointed arched window with foiled traceried head, string courses at sill level and continuous as hood mould, lean-to vestry/organ bay to SE has an entrance, 2 light windows as on N aisle and similar stone dressings. Interior: C12 tower arch is off centre to widened nave, plain round arch with splayed impost blocks. In tower a C14 chamfered pointed arched doorway to S aisle, above a C12 round headed window with a deeply splayed embrasure. S arcade is late C13, 3 bays extended by 1 bay to E in C19, double order to pointed arches, chamfered except an inward facing inner hollow moulding, broach stops to outer mouldings, octagonal piers with moulded bases and bell capitals, added bay is taller but similar. C19 4 bay N arcade follows this pattern. c19 broad pointed chancel arch with semi-octagonal responds. C19 sharply pointed double arcade from chancel to organ bay. S aisle retains grotesque corbels to roof, largely C19 with some earlier stop chamfered timbers with arched braces to W end. Nave has a hexagonally vaulted roof with arched braces, chancel roof similar with applied X ribs and foiled tracery to E end. S aisle near E end has the lower portion of a C14 piscina with wave moulded jambs and a hexafoil bowl. Chancel has Gothic polychromy, blind niches flank reredos to E, double sedilia to S, varicoloured marbles, alabaster, tiles and painted decoration on walls. Encaustic tiled floor and risers to stone steps. A good pulpit dated 1626, octagonal with richly carved arched and foliate panels, shaped brackets to book rest, panelled back rises to tester with carved soffit and pendant drops. C19 choir stalls incorporate remains of C15 chancel screen with traceried panels. In S aisle a large late medieval oak chest with numerous iron bands. In tower a late medieval ladder to belfry with chamfered arrises. Square font by Butterfield, an inner circular stem with 8 outer marble shafts to a massive bowl with Gothic tracery. Also by Butterfield are seats with unusually shaped bench ends, Gothic timber reading desk, painted iron candelabras and iron gates in tower arch. Organ by Bevington and Sons, installed 1883, case to design by Butterfield. Monuments: S aisle W wall: a reset brass to A. Willet, d.1621, an oval marble tablet, inscribed with arms above to T. Rutherforth, d.1771, another classical epitaph with scrolled jambs to A. Eyre, d.1716. S aisle S wall has a reset brass palimpsest, C15 and C16. In window sill above a carved bishop's head. S wall of organ bay, iron epitaph to Mrs. A. Brownrigge, d.1630. Glass: E window, Crucifixion, 1872 by Hardman, S aisle figural fragments with date 1536, N aisle E end a small C14 Crucifixion, W tower small C14 God. (The Builder, vol.XXX, No.1536, July 13, 1872: RCHM 1910: VCH 1914: P. Thompson, William Butterfield, 1971: Pevsner 1977).

Listing NGR: TL4016638418

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

162538

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1914)
Thompson, P, William Butterfield Victorian Architect, (1971)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)
The Builder in 13 July, Vol. 30, (1872)

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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