Church of St Margaret

Details

BRIGHTON

TQ3602NE THE GREEN, Rottingdean
577-1/60/1071 (East side)
13/10/52 Church of St Margaret

GV II*

Anglican church. Norman nave, tower and chancel of c1200,
south aisle of 1856 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who carried
out a restoration of the church as a whole at that date; choir
and clergy vestries of 1973-4 by Denman and Son. Random flint
with stone dressings, roof of tiles; the C19 work to the
chancel, south aisle and west end marked by a tighter use of
flint.
EXTERIOR: the east end has 3 lancets of equal height, dating
from 1856, with a common hoodmould and a blank quatrefoil
above; the south wall of the chancel has one pointed-arched
entrance with an elaborately moulded architrave and hoodmould
of C19 date; one plain lancet to right of the entrance, and
one lower lancet to the left with a trefoiled head, probably
of C14 date; a C17 stone bracket survives between this window
and the entrance; one plain lancet to north wall. The tower is
of 3 stages and flanked to north and south by angle
buttresses; plain lancet window, with 2 narrow bell openings
above and one such narrow opening to east and to west;
pyramidal roof.
The south aisle has paired trefoiled lancets with common
hoodmoulds to east and south sides and a single trefoiled
lancet to the west, the latter of C14 date and resited by
Scott; lean-to roof of lead. On the north side of the nave
there are, from the tower, 2 pairs of lancets, then a single
lancet, than another pair; between the second pair and the
single lancet, a low opening, now blocked, with decayed
dressed stonework, possibly deriving from the earlier Saxon
church.
The west end has a pointed-arched entrance with hollow- and
wave-moulds and hoodmould with head-stops of St Margaret of
Antioch and St Richard of Chichester; the west door has
elaborate Gothic Revival decoration to the hinges; the west
end flanked by 2 massive buttresses with one offset, of late
C14 date, and an additional angle buttress to the south, of
early C19 date; cross at apex of gable. Choir and clergy
vestries of 2 storeys, square in plan, the principal part
under a hipped roof and the upper part set back.
Set into the west end of the south aisle are 2 stones, in
memory of Sir Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana, who
are buried there.
INTERIOR: the interior has the peculiar feature that the level
of the floor is raised by 3 steps from the nave to the
'crossing' under the tower, and then by 3 steps again to the
chancel. The interior was plastered and the nave reroofed by
Scott; features of earlier interest are the priest's doorway
in the chancel with C13 mouldings; the crown post roof to the
chancel with arched braces and cambered tie beams, possibly of
a date with the chancel; and the chancel arch and the arch to
the crossing, which are triple chamfered; the nave arcade to
the south is of 3 bays, the restored columns having Early
English capitals and an inner order to the pointed arch.
Gallery to west end with balustrade possibly of C18 date.
Remains of Norman font kept at the west end of the south
aisle, by a font of similar design dating from 1910. Behind
the pulpit, a memorial tablet surmounted by a bust of Thomas
Redman Hooker. Polished Purbeck marble slab tomb of Thomas
Pelling in the chancel, 1732.
Stained glass by Morris and Company: east window 1893; lancets
either side of the chancel, Mary Virgin and St Margaret, 1894;
lancets either side of the 'crossing' 1897; Ridsdale window in
north side of nave 1902; Rowden window in north side of nave
1919; all the designs are by Burne-Jones except for the
figures of Christ bearing the Cross and St George and the
Dragon in the Rowden window, which are by JH Dearle. Chancel
window in memory of Sir Wentworth Dilke, 1922 by Townshend.
(Sewter AC: The Stained Glass of William Morris and his circle
- a catalogue: 1975-: 163-4; Pevsner N & Nairn I: The
Buildings of England: Sussex: Harmondsworth: 1965-; The Parish
Church of St Margaret, Rottingdean: Rottingdean: 1990-).



Listing NGR: TQ3696902605

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

481343

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
The Parish Church of St Margaret, Rottingdean, (1990)
Sewter, A, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle, (1975), 163-164
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I, The Buildings of England: Sussex, (1965)

End of official list entry

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