Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Construction
Construction of St Margaret's Church, Westminster
church in Westminster, London, United Kingdom
- 11th century – 11th century
- Europe
Construction
church in Westminster, London, United Kingdom
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is an Anglican parish church in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey.
The church was founded in the twelfth century by Benedictine monks, so that local people who lived in the area around the Abbey could worship separately at their own simpler parish church, and historically it was within the hundred of Ossulstone in the county of Middlesex. In 1914, in a preface to Memorials of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, a former Rector of St Margaret's, Hensley Henson, reported a mediaeval tradition that the church was as old as Westminster Abbey, owing its origins to the same royal saint, Edward the Confessor, and that "The two churches, conventual and parochial, have stood side by side for more than eight centuries – not, of course, the existing fabrics, but older churches of which the existing fabrics are successors on the same site."
St Margaret's was rebuilt from 1486 to 1523, at the instigation of King Henry VII, and the new church, which largely still stands today, was consecrated on 9 April 1523. It has been called "the last church in London decorated in the Catholic tradition before the Reformation", and on each side of a large rood cross there stood richly painted statues of St Mary and St John, while the building had several internal chapels. In the 1540s, the new church came near to demolition, when Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, planned to take it down to provide good-quality materials for Somerset House, his own new palace in the Strand. He was only kept from carrying out his plan by the resistance of armed parishioners.
In 1614, St Margaret's became the parish church of the Palace of Westminster, when the Puritans of the seventeenth century, unhappy with the highly liturgical Abbey, chose to hold their Parliamentary services in a church they found more suitable: a practice that has continued since that time. An additional detached burial ground was added in 1625 at what is now Christchurch Gardens.
Between 1734 and 1738, the north-west tower was rebuilt to designs by John James; at the same time, the whole structure was encased in Portland stone. Both the eastern and the western porch were added later, with J. L. Pearson as architect. In 1878, the church's interior was greatly restored and altered to its current appearance by Sir George Gilbert Scott, although many Tudor features were retained.
In 1863, during preliminary explorations preparing for this restoration, Scott found several doors overlaid with what was believed to be human skin. After doctors had examined this skin, Victorian historians theorized that the skin might have been that of William the Sacrist, who organized a gang that, in 1303, robbed the King of the equivalent of, in modern currency, $100 million (see Richard of Pudlicott). It was a complex scheme, involving several gang members disguised as monks planting bushes on the palace. After the stealthy burglary six months later, the loot was concealed in these bushes. The historians believed that William the Sacrist was flayed alive as punishment and his skin was used to make these royal doors, perhaps situated initially at nearby Westminster Palace. Subsequent study revealed that the skins were bovine in origin, not human.
By the 1970s, the number of people living nearby was in the hundreds. Ecclesiastical responsibility for the parish was reallocated to neighbouring parishes by the Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret Westminster Act 1972, and the church was brought under the authority of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, ceasing to be a parish church.
In July 2020, it was announced, without any consultation, that regular Sunday worship at the church would cease, and the choir was disbanded. Members of the disbanded congregation launched a petition, which garnered more than 1700 signatures, and the regular community felt that The Abbey's services are not intimate, nor do they invite participation, being quite formal. The Abbey, lacking a regular congregation and is mostly made up of tourists was felt to be profoundly different in spirit to the worshiping community at St Margaret's, which consisted of 60-120 regular worshipers. The cessation of regular worship was lamented in the press, As of 2025, a weekly sung eucharist has been restarted on Sunday evenings.
An annual new year service for the Coptic Orthodox Church in Britain takes place in the church in October, and in 2016 Bishop Angaelos gave the sermon.
The Rector of St Margaret's is often a canon of Westminster Abbey.
Notable windows include the east window of 1509 of Flemish stained glass, created to commemorate the betrothal of Catherine of Aragon to Henry VIII. This has had a chequered history. It was given by Henry VII to Waltham Abbey in Essex, and at the Dissolution of the Monasteries the last Abbot sent it to a private chapel at New Hall, Essex. That came into the possession of Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, the father of Anne Boleyn, then Thomas Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Sussex, next George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, after him Oliver Cromwell, from whom it reverted to the second Duke of Buckingham, next General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, and after him John Olmius, then Mr Conyers of Copt Hall, Essex, whose son sold the window to the parish of St Margaret's in 1758, for 400 guineas. The money came from a grant of £4,000, which parliament had made to the parish that year for the renovation of the church and the rebuilding of the chancel.
Other windows commemorate William Caxton, England's first printer, who was buried at the church in 1491, Sir Walter Raleigh, executed in Old Palace Yard and then also buried in the church in 1618, the poet John Milton, a parishioner of the church, and Admiral Robert Blake.
The Victorian glass that once filled the eight bays of the south aisle was destroyed by enemy action during the Second World War. In 1966, all eight windows were provided with new glass designed by John Piper and made by his longtime collaborator Patrick Reyntiens. Piper's unified scheme filled each window with an uncompromisingly modern abstract design, intended to create a "total impression of living radiance, in shades of silvery grey predominantly with splashes of pale greens, yellows and blues in varied density, to filter the daylight." The new windows were dedicated on 15 January 1967 in memory of Canon Carnegie and his wife, Peter Kemp-Welch, Clarence Fletcher and Richard Costain.
As well as marrying its own parishioners, the church has long been a popular venue for society weddings, as Members of Parliament, peers, and officers of the House of Lords and House of Commons can choose to be married in it. Notable weddings include:
Other notable weddings include some of the Bright Young People.
On Easter day 1555 in the reign of Mary I a Protestant ex-Benedictine monk, William Flower inflicted wounds to the administerer of the sacrament. He repented for the injuries but would not repent his motive which was rejection of the doctrine of transubstantiation. He was thus sentenced for heresy and a week later severed of his hand and burned at the stake outside the church.
During the First World War, Edward Lyttelton, headmaster of Eton, gave a sermon in the church on the theme of "loving your enemies", promoting the view that any post-war treaty with Germany should be a just one and not vindictive. He had to leave the church after the service by a back door, while a number of demonstrators sang "Rule, Britannia!" in protest at his attitude.
Until 2019, the treble choristers for St Margaret's were supplied by Westminster Under School. In September 2023, a new choir for girls aged 11 to 17 was formed, to sing for regular liturgical services alongside the professional singers of the St Margaret's Consort.
The church also hosted the first performance by the UK Parliament Choir under Simon Over in 2000.
An organ was installed in 1806 by John Avery. The current organ is largely built by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
Mackenzie Walcott lists the following as officiating clergymen:
Text from the Wikipedia article “St Margaret's, Westminster”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.