St Margaret's Church, Barking | |
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51°32′7.89″N0°4′33.6504″E / 51.5355250°N 0.076014000°E | |
Location | Barking, Barking and Dagenham |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic & open evangelical |
Website | Church website |
History | |
Status | Active |
Dedication | Margaret the Virgin |
Events | 1215: Foundation 1762: Marriage of Captain James Cook to Elizabeth Batts |
Architecture | |
Functional status | Parish church |
Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
Specifications | |
Length | 134 feet (41 m) [1] |
Width | 64 feet (20 m) |
Height | 75 feet (23 m) |
Bells | 8 |
Tenor bell weight | 23 long cwt (2,600 lb or 1,200 kg) (heaviest) |
Administration | |
Province | Province of Canterbury |
Diocese | Diocese of Chelmsford |
Episcopal area | Barking Episcopal Area |
Archdeaconry | Archdeaconry of Barking |
Deanery | Barking |
Parish | Barking |
Clergy | |
Rector | The Revd Mark Adams |
NSM(s) | The Revd Elwon John |
Laity | |
Reader(s) | Canon Pat Nappin |
St Margaret's Church or the Church of St Margaret of Antioch is a Church of England parish church in Barking, East London. The church is a Grade I listed building, on a site dating back to the 13th century, within the grounds of the Roman Catholic Barking Abbey, the ruins of a former royal monastery that was originally established in the 7th century. The building is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, also known as Margaret of Antioch.
The church originated as a Roman Catholic chapel for local people within the grounds of Barking Abbey, to the south of the Abbey church. Its oldest part is the chancel, built early in the 13th century during the reign of King John. The building is said to have been made into a parish church in 1300 by Anne de Vere, abbess of the Abbey. [2] Until the 1390s Barking formed a rectory, held by the Abbey and divided into two vicarages known as 'Northstrete' (probably funded by income from the Ilford area) and 'Southstrete' (serving the Abbey church). The area suffered severe flooding in the late 14th century, leading to financial difficulties and a merger of the two vicarages from 1398 onwards. [3] A chaplain from the Abbey led worship. [4] The present bell tower was added late in the 15th century.
It remained a parish church when the Abbey was dissolved and the rectory and advowson devolved to the Crown, who initially leased it to the widow Mary Blackenhall for 21 years in 1540. In 1557 these were bought by Robert Thomas and Andrew Salter using money from the estate of William Pownsett of nearby Loxford, and granted to All Souls College, Oxford, in return for the vicar praying for the souls of Pownsett, his parents and benefactors every Sunday, giving 6 shillings and 8 pence amongst twenty poor people annually on the anniversary of Pownsett's death, paying the College an annual sum to maintain two poor scholars and only being absent from the parish 80 or fewer days a year. The College presented when the next vacancy occurred in 1560, but at the following one the Crown contested its right, though this was overturned via a lawsuit. Sir John Petre reconfirmed the 1557 grant in 1594, but dropped the requirement to pray for the dead. The right is now shared between All Souls College, Oxford, the Bishop of Chelmsford (in whose diocese it now falls) and the church's churchwardens.
The church contains several memorials, including one to the 17th-century politician Charles Montagu. The explorer Captain James Cook married Elizabeth Batts in the church on 21 December 1762. [5] Ten years later the nave, chancel and sanctuary all had their ceilings plastered, though this was removed from the nave ceiling in 1842.
Charles Winmill and George Jack were involved in a restoration of the interior between 1929 and 1936. [6] [7] The building was Grade I listed in 1954. [8] An extension was added along the south side late in the 20th century to provide an office, bookshop and refectory.
In the late 1970s the parish became part of a team parish covering Barking with Christ Church and St Patrick's. On 1 January 2017, St Patrick's and Christchurch each gained their own parishes, taken from the team Parish area, leaving St Margaret's with a smaller Parish.
St Margaret's parish is unusual in having three churchwardens rather than two. [9]
In 2007, two small stones from remains of the old medieval London Bridge [10] were joined together in a sculpture in front of St Margaret's church facing the Barking Abbey ruins as part of several public artworks placed in Barking Town Centre by artist Joost Van Santen. [11]
The church is both Anglo-Catholic and open evangelical in tradition. [12]
Many vicars of Barking have gone on to become bishops. Hugh Jermyn was Bishop of Colombo 1871–1875, Bishop of Brechin 1875–1903 and Primus of Scotland 1886–1901. Robin Smith, a curate from 1962, was Bishop of Hertford 1990–2001.
Ilford is a large town in east London, England, 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a population of 168,168 in 2011, compared to 303,858 for the entire borough.
Wapping is an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is on the north bank of the River Thames between St Katharine Docks to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This position gives the district a strong maritime character.
The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a London borough in East London. The borough was created in 1965 as the London Borough of Barking; the name was changed in 1980. It is an Outer London borough and the south is within the London Riverside section of the Thames Gateway; an area designated as a national priority for urban regeneration. At the 2011 census it had a population of 187,000. The borough's three main towns are Barking, Chadwell Heath and Dagenham. The local authority is the Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council. Barking and Dagenham was one of six London boroughs to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Dagenham is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred 11+1⁄2 miles east of Charing Cross.
Barking is a riverside town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is 9.3 miles (15 km) east of Charing Cross. The total population of Barking was 59,068 at the 2011 census. In addition to an extensive and fairly low-density residential area, the town centre forms a large retail and commercial district, currently a focus for regeneration. The former industrial lands to the south are being redeveloped as Barking Riverside.
Chadwell Heath is an area in East London, England. It is split between the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the London Borough of Redbridge, around 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Romford and 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Ilford, and 12 miles (19 km) north-east of Charing Cross.
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is 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.
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East London is the northeastern part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of railways in the 19th century encouraged the eastward expansion of the East End of London and a proliferation of new suburbs. The industrial lands of East London are today an area of regeneration, which are well advanced in places such as Canary Wharf and ongoing elsewhere.
Saint Earconwald or Erkenwald was a Saxon prince and Bishop of London between 675 and 693. He is the eponymous subject of one of the most important poems in the foundations of English literature. He was called Lundoniae maximum sanctus, 'the most holy figure of London', and Lux Londonie, "the light of London". Peter Ackroyd has said of him, "we may still name him as the patron saint of London, [his]... cult survived for over eight hundred years, before entering the temporary darkness of the last four centuries".
Hainault Forest was a large wooded area in the English counties of Essex and Greater London which was mostly destroyed after 1851. Popular outrage at the destruction of most of the forest was an important catalyst for the creation of the modern environmental movement.
Barkingside is an area in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It includes the major road junction of Fullwell Cross which also gives its name to the locality near that roundabout. The area is situated 10.6 miles (17km) north east of Charing Cross. Prior to 1965, it formed part of the borough of Ilford in the historic county of Essex.
The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. It was created on 23 January 1914 from part of the Diocese of St Albans. It covers Essex and part of East London. Since 1984 it is divided into three episcopal areas, each with its own area bishop. The diocese covers around 1,500 square miles (3,900 km2) with a population of more than 3 million. It has 463 parishes and 588 churches.
Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country".
Hatfield Broad Oak Priory, or Hatfield Regis Priory, is a former Benedictine priory in Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex, England. Founded by 1139, it was dissolved in 1536 as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.
St. Peter and St. Paul, known commonly as Dagenham Parish Church, is a Church of England parish church in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, England, formerly part of Essex. It is of medieval origin, largely rebuilt at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Sir Charles Montagu of Cranbrook Hall in the parish of Barking, Essex, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1614 to 1625.
Elizabeth Cook was the wife, and, for more than 50 years, widow, of Captain James Cook.