Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Northam facts for kids
The Church of St Margaret of Antioch is a historic Church of England church located in Northam, Devon, near Bideford. It is dedicated to Saint Margaret and has been a very important old building (a Grade I listed building) since 1951. It is part of the Diocese of Exeter, which is the church area for Devon.
History of the Church
An even older church once stood on this spot. The church you see today was mostly built in the 1400s, but the bottom part of its tower is even older. The church was carefully restored between 1845 and 1870. People donated money, and a local Reverend named I.H. Gosset helped pay for it. An architect from Exeter named Daniel Mackintosh guided the work.
The church has a great spot overlooking the sea, with views of Lundy Island in the distance. Its tall tower, which is 170 feet high, has eight bells and was built in the early 1400s. Because it stands out so much, it was used for hundreds of years to guide ships in the Bristol Channel. One side of the tower that faces the sea was even painted white so sailors could see it better!
Inside the Church
The main part of the church, called the nave, is from the 1200s or 1300s. The church got bigger with a new section (called a north aisle) in the late 1500s, when more people lived in the area. You can still see an old message on one of the arches that says "This yele was made Anno 1593," where 'yele' means 'aisle'.
The ceiling, built during the time of Queen Elizabeth I, is very special. It's thought that local shipbuilders created it. They added cool carvings like the Tudor rose, different plants, the Saint George's Cross, and symbols of the story of Jesus's suffering. There's also a part of the church called the Chapel of Saint George. People believe it was once used by a group called the Guild of Saints John and George, which helped poor people in the Middle Ages.
The baptismal font is where people are baptized. This font was found buried under the tower floor during the Victorian era. It's interesting because it has a crack and places where locks used to be. These locks were there to stop people from stealing the holy water! It was fixed in 1848 by Reverend Isaac Henry Gosset. He wrote about a local story that said the font was broken in half by soldiers during the English Civil War.
Next to the font, you can see a colorful statue of Francis of Assisi with the Wolf of Gubbio. This is a copy of an original statue made in 1927 by Mother Maribel, an Anglican nun and artist. Also nearby is a copy of a very old song from the 1300s called the Northam Kyrie. It's from a Medieval hymn book that would have been used in the church. The music is in a simple style called plainsong, and the words ask for 'Lord have mercy upon us.' The Northam Kyrie was found in 1933 hidden in a church book from the Elizabethan era. The original is kept safe in the Devon Heritage Centre in Exeter.
The pulpit, where sermons are given, is made of Devon marble. The Lady Chapel was built in 1623 and holds the church organ, which was made in 1866. The altar in this chapel is a special memorial to those who died in World War I. A more recent addition to the chapel is a statue of the Suffering Madonna and Christ Child, carved by Eric Collingwood, who was a member of the church.
Churchyard and Graves
The churchyard, where people are buried, has two parts. The older part is right around the church and has many old graves. The newer part is reached through a gate at the top of the old churchyard.
In the old section, there's a grave that people believe belongs to Salvation Yeo, a character from Charles Kingsley's book Westward Ho! There's also the grave of Benjamin Rogers, a soldier who fought against Napoleon in many battles during the Napoleonic Wars. He even guarded Napoleon as a prisoner on Saint Helena before coming back to Northam, where he died at 90 years old. You can also find graves of sailors here and a building that used to be a mortuary chapel but is now used for church meetings.
The musician and conductor Clarence Raybould is buried in the older churchyard. In the new churchyard, there are graves for several Anglican nuns and some graves looked after by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. One of these is for an unknown merchant seaman, "Known unto God," whose body washed ashore during World War II.
