St Margaret's, Westminster

St Margaret's, Westminster
St. Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey
Location:	City of Westminster, London, UK
Coordinates:	51°30′00″N 00°07′37″W / 51.5°N 0.12694°W / 51.5; -0.12694Coordinates: 51°30′00″N 00°07′37″W / 51.5°N 0.12694°W / 51.5; -0.12694
Founded:	12th Century
Rebuilt:	1486 to 1523
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name: Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church
Type:	Cultural
Criteria:	i, ii, iv
Designated:	1987 (11th session)
Reference #:	426
Country:	United Kingdom
Region:	Europe and North America
Location of St Margaret's, Westminster in United Kingdom

The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster Abbey is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church^[1] of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in London. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch.^[2]

History and description

Originally founded in the 12th century by Benedictine monks, so that local people who lived in the area around the Abbey^[3] could worship separately at their own simpler parish church, and historically part of the hundred of Ossulstone in the county of Middlesex,^[4] St Margaret's was rebuilt from 1486 to 1523. It became the parish church of the Palace of Westminster in 1614, when the Puritans of the 17th century, unhappy with the highly liturgical Abbey, chose to hold Parliamentary services in the more "suitable" St Margaret's:^[5] a practice that has continued since that time.

The Rector of St. Margaret's is a canon of Westminster Abbey.

The north-west tower was rebuilt by John James from 1734 to 1738; at the same time, the whole structure was encased in Portland stone. Both the eastern and the western porch were added later by J. L. Pearson. The church's interior was greatly restored and altered to its current appearance by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1877,^[6] although many of the Tudor features were retained.

Commemorative windows and notable burials

Notable features include the east window of 1509 of Flemish stained glass, created to commemorate the betrothal of Catherine of Aragon to Henry VIII.^[7] Other windows commemorate William Caxton, Britain's first printer, who was buried at the church in 1491, Sir Walter Raleigh, executed in Old Palace Yard^[8] and then also buried in the church in 1618, the poet John Milton, a parishioner of the church, and Admiral Robert Blake. The collector Henry Constantine Jennings is also buried there.^[9]

Other notable burials include those of William Murray, 2nd Earl of Tullibardine, 30 July 1627; Edward Grimeston, 14 December 1640; and Wenceslas Hollar, died 25 March 1677. Also Bishop Nicholas Clagett.

Following the Restoration of the Monarchy, in 1661 the Parliamentarians who had been buried in Westminster Abbey (Admiral Robert Blake, Denis Bond, Nicholas Boscawen, Mary Bradshaw, Sir William Constable, Admiral Richard Deane, Isaac Dorislaus, Anne Fleetwood, Thomas Hesilrige, Humphrey Mackworth, Stephen Marshall, Thomas May, John Meldrum, Admiral Edward Popham, John Pym, Humphrey Salwey, William Strong, William Stroud and William Twiss) were disinterred from the Abbey and reburied in an unmarked pit in St Margaret's churchyard on the orders of King Charles II. A memorial to them can now be found set into the external wall to the left of the main west entrance.^[10]

Weddings

The church has been a common venue for "society" weddings, including those of Samuel Pepys^[11] and former prime ministers Sir Winston Churchill^[12] and members of the Bright Young People.^[13] and Harold Macmillan.^[14]

The ensemble of St. Margaret's, the Palace of Westminster, and Westminster Abbey is a World Heritage Site. Members of Parliament and Staff members of the House of Lords & House of Commons are permitted to marry in the church.

Other notable events

During the First World War, Dr Littleton, headmaster of Eton, gave a sermon at the church on the theme of "Loving your enemies". He spoke of his opinion that any post-war treaty should be a just one and not a vindictive one. 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.^[15]

Organ

The organ is largely built by J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

Organists who have played at St Margaret's include:

Robert Whyte 1570 - 1574 John Egglestone John Parsons 1616 - 1621 (then organist of Westminster Abbey)[16] John Hilton 1628 - 1657(?) John Blow 1695 - ???? Bernard Smith 1676 - 1708 Henry Turner 1708 - ???? John Illam ???? - 1726 Edward Purcell, son of Henry Purcell, 1726–1740 James Butler 1740 - 1772 William Rock 1774 - 1802

Michael Rock 1802 - 1809 John Bernard Sale 1809 - 1838 Walter Galpin Alcock ???? - 1896 Edwin Lemare 1897 - 1902 Reginald Goss-Custard 1902 - 1914 Edwin Stephenson 1914 - 1922 (formerly organist of St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham) Herbert Dawson 1929 - 1965 Martin Neary 1965 - 1972 Richard Hickox 1972 - 1982 Thomas Trotter Simon Over 1992 - 2002

Gallery

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  Explanatory plaque

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  St. Margaret's Church. To the left is the Tower of Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster; to the right is the Abbey.

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  St. Margaret's, seen from the London Eye Ferris wheel

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  The nave of St. Margaret's

References

1. ^ Westminster Abbey. "St. Margaret's, Westminster Parish details". Archived from the original on 2008-03-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20080305183607/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets/history/. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
2. ^ Pevsner, N.; Bradley, Simon (2003). The Buildings of England: London 6 - Westminster. Uxbridge: Penguin. ISBN 0300095953. 
3. ^ McManus, Mark. "St. Margaret's, Westminster". http://www.ourpasthistory.com/England/st-margaret-westminster. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
4. ^ Hawgood, David. "St. Margaret's, Westminster". Genuki (Genealogy UK & Ireland). http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/WestminsterStMargaret/index.html. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
5. ^ Wright, A.; Smith, P. (1868). Parliament Past and Present. London: Hutchinson & Co. 
6. ^ Scott, George Gilbert (1995) [1879]. Stamp, Gavin. ed. Personal and Professional Recollections. [London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington] Stamford: Paul Watkins Publishing. ISBN 1871615267. 
7. ^ Dean and Chapter, Westminster Abbey. "St Margaret's Church - The east window". St Margaret's Church. http://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets/visit-us/the-east-end3. Retrieved 2010-10-21. 
8. ^ Smith, Christopher. "Sir Walter Raleigh - Execution". Britannia Biographies. http://www.britannia.com/bios/raleigh/executio.html. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 
9. ^ Angelicoussis, E. (2004). "Jennings, Henry Constantine (1731–1819)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019861411X. 
10. ^ Oliver Cromwell Westminster Abbey
11. ^ Pepys, Samuel (1987). Samuel Pepys. ed. The Illustrated Pepys: extracts from the Diary. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0141390166. 
12. ^ Gilbert, Martin (1991). Churchill: a life. London: Heinemann. ISBN 0434291838. 
13. ^ Taylor, D. J. (2007). Bright Young People: the lost generation of London's Jazz Age. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0701177543.  (American ed.: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, New York, 2009)
14. ^ [1]
15. ^ Alan Wilkinson, The Church of England and the First World War, London, SCM Press, 1996, p.221.
16. ^ Dwight's Journal of Music, p. 331

External links

• Guide to St. Margaret's
• Memorials of St. Margaret's church, Westminster, comprising the parish registers, 1539-1660, and other churchwardens' accounts, 1460-1603
• Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret)