St. Margaret's, Westminster

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church


State Party =
Type = Cultural
Criteria = i, ii, iv
ID = 426
Region = Europe and North America
Year = 1987
Session = 11th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/426The Anglican church of St. Margaret, Westminster is situated in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, and is the parish church [cite web
url = http://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets/history/
title = St. Margaret's, Westminster Parish details
author = Westminster Abbey
accessdate = 2008-05-03] of the British Houses of Parliament in London. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch. [cite book
last = Pevsner
first = N.
authorlink = Nikolaus Pevsner
coauthors = Bradley, Simon
title = The Buildings of England: London 6 - Westminster
year = 2003
publisher = Penguin
location = Uxbridge
isbn = 0300095953]

Originally founded in the 12th century by Benedictine monks, so that local people who lived in the area around the Abbey [cite web
url = http://www.ourpasthistory.com/England/st-margaret-westminster
title = St. Margaret's, Westminster
author = McManus, Mark
accessdate = 2008-05-03] could worship separately at their own simpler parish church, and historically part of the hundred of Ossulstone in the county of Middlesex, [cite web
url = http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/WestminsterStMargaret/index.html
title = St. Margaret's, Westminster
author = Hawgood, David
accessdate = 2008-05-03
work = Genuki (Genealogy UK & Ireland) ] St. Margaret's was rebuilt from 1486 to 1523. It became the parish 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, [cite book
last = Wright
first = A.
coauthors = Smith, P.
title = Parliament past and present
year = 1868
publisher = Hutchinson & Co
location = London] a practice that has since continued.

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, [cite book
last = Scott
first = G. G.
authorlink = George Gilbert Scott
editor = Stamp, G.
title = Personal and Professional Recollections
origyear = 1879
year = 1995
publisher = Sampson Low Marston Searle & Rivington] Donington: Paul Watkins Publishing
location = [Uxbridge
isbn = 1871615267] although many of the Tudor features have remained.

Notable features include the Eastern window of 1509 of Flemish stained glass, created to remember the betrothal of Catherine of Aragon to Prince Arthur, [cite book
last = Starkey
first = D.
authorlink = David Starkey
title = Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
year = 2004
publisher = Harper Collins
location = London
isbn = 0060005505] elder brother of Henry VIII. 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 [cite web
url = http://www.britannia.com/bios/raleigh/executio.html
title = Sir Walter Raleigh - Execution
author = Smith, Christopher
accessdate = 2008-05-03
work = Britannia Biographies] and then also buried in the church in 1618, and the poet John Milton, a parishioner of the church. The collector Henry Constantine Jennings is also buried there. [cite book
last = Angelicoussis
first = E.
chapter = Jennings, Henry Constantine (1731–1819)
title = Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
year = 2004
publisher = Oxford University Press
location = Oxford
isbn = 019861411X]

The church has been a common venue for "society" weddings, including those of Samuel Pepys [cite book
last = Pepys
first = S.
editor = Samuel Pepys
title = The Illustrated Pepys: Extracts from the Diary
year = 1987
publisher = Penguin
location = Harmondsworth
isbn = 0141390166] and Sir Winston Churchill. [cite book
last = Gilbert
first = M.
title = Churchill: A life
year = 1991
publisher = Heinnemann
location = London
isbn = 0434291838] The ensemble of St. Margaret's, the Palace of Westminster, and Westminster Abbey is a World Heritage Site.

St. Margaret's has a lengthy musical tradition; Edward Purcell, son of Henry Purcell, was organist from 1726 to 1740 .

Gallery

References

External link

* [http://www.westminster-abbey.org/st-margarets/ Guide to St. Margaret's]