St Margaret's Church is an ancient Anglicanparish church situated on St Margaret's Way in Leicester, England. Described by John Leland as “the fairest parish church in Leicester” it is notable for its large and well lit 15th century chancel, and the imposing west tower with its peal of 14 bells.[1]Nicholas Pevsner noted that the fan vaulted south porch and tower’s stair turret are unique examples among Leicestershire churches.[2] It is a Grade I listed building.[3]
History
Parish
First recorded in the Doomsday Survey in 1086, the parish community is at least nine hundred years old and dates back to before the Norman conquest.[4] The church is situated just outside the northernmost corner of the ancient Roman city of Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum). The now completely lost city walls are marked by today’s Churchgate and Sanvey Gate which met in front of the church before the construction of St Margaret’s Way. At it’s hight the Parish of St Margaret covered most of north Leicester and held the chapelry of St Mary Magdalene, Knighton.[4] Both the medieval parish Guild and the post-reformation St Margaret’s Vestry Committee were responsible for many of Leicester’s earliest charitable and welfare provisions.[1] When the advowsons of the churches within Leicesters walls were granted to the Augustinian Canons of Leicester Abbey sometime after 1143, St Margaret’s alone remained in the hands of the Bishop of Lincoln.[1] This perhaps reflects an earlier arrangement where the patronages of the cities churches were held by the Earl of Leicester rather than the Diocese of Lincoln. St Margaret’s was a Prebendal church and its vicar a Prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral at least as early as 1220.[1] In 1541 during the reformation the prebend passed to the Diocese of Peterborough and it was finally dissolved in 1878 at which time a vast swath of its territory was divided into new parishes.[4]
St Margaret's Church, Leicester - High Altar and East End Window flanked by niches containing statues of St Margaret to the left and St Mary Magdalene to the right.
^Hoskins, W. G.; McKinley, R. A., eds. (1954). "Houses of Augustinian canons: Leicester abbey". A History of the County of Leicestershire: Volume 2 (Victoria County History). London. pp. 13–19. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
^Kroeger, Karl (2001). "Valentine, John". In Sadie, Stanley (ed.). New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 26. London: Macmillan. pp. 207–8. ISBN0-333-60800-3.
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