St Margaret's Church, Hemingford Abbots facts for kids
St Margaret's Church is a special old church located in a village called Hemingford Abbots. It's a Church of England church, which means it's part of the main Christian church in England. This church is named after a saint called Saint Margaret of Antioch.
People have been worshipping at this spot for a very long time! A church was first mentioned here in a famous old book called the Domesday Record, which was written way back in 1086. This book was a big survey of England ordered by William the Conqueror. Some parts of the church you see today were built around the year 1300.
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Exploring the Church Building
Let's take a look inside and around St Margaret's Church!
The nave is the main part of the church where people sit during services. The beautiful arches in the nave were built around the year 1300. If you look closely at the thicker pillars near the front, they show where a tall tower used to stand in the 1100s. You can even see parts of the flying buttresses that helped support that old tower. Flying buttresses are strong stone supports that lean against the outside walls of a building to help hold it up.
The wooden roof above you, made of oak, is also very old, dating back to the 1400s. Look up and you might spot the twenty-two carved angels that are part of the roof's design! You can also see signs that the church once had a lower roof. The outlines of older, higher windows, called clerestory windows, are still visible. These windows let light into the nave.
At the back of the nave, you'll find the font. This is a large stone basin used for baptisms. It's about 700 years old! It has carvings of old-style arches, known as Norman arches, which are a type of design from the time of the Normans.
Stained Glass Windows
Most of the colourful stained glass windows in the church were put in during the Victorian era (the 1800s). However, in the north aisle (a side section of the church), there are some older pieces. You can find glass from the 1700s that shows family symbols, called heraldic glass, and even some small pieces from the Middle Ages.
The Tower and Spire
The church's tower is decorated with interesting stone carvings called gargoyles. These often look like strange creatures and were originally designed to spout water away from the building. Interestingly, there are no gargoyles on the north side of the tower, as it's less visible from the village.
On top of the tower is the spire, which is the tall, pointed part. It has eight sides, making it octagonal. It also has decorative stone bands, called castellated band courses, which look like the tops of castles. There are two rows of small windows called lucarnes on the spire, and a weathervane sits right at the very top. The bottom 10 feet (about 3 meters) of the spire are built at a steeper angle than the rest of it.
The Churchyard: Outside Area
The area around the church, called the churchyard, is a peaceful place. It has many traditional gravestones made from local materials. You can also see two table tombs, which are like stone tables covering graves. The churchyard is home to many box trees and yew trees, which are common in old churchyards.
To enter the churchyard, you walk through a special covered gateway called a lychgate. This lychgate was originally in another village called Warboys. It was moved to Hemingford Abbots in 1974 to celebrate the village's millennium (1000 years).
