Church of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret of Antioch stands on a rise in Northam, a village near Bideford in Devon. It overlooks Bideford Bay and the distant Lundy Island. The present building is mainly 15th-century, though its tower is older. The church was restored between 1845 and 1870 under architect Daniel Mackintosh. Its tower, 170 feet high, once guided ships in the Bristol Channel by its whitewashed seaward side. The church contains notable features from different centuries. The Elizabethan barrel-vault ceiling has bosses carved with Tudor roses and symbols of the Passion. The Chapel of Saint George may have served a medieval guild that aided the poor. The baptismal font, rediscovered under the tower floor, bears locks once used to stop theft of holy water. A copy of the 14th-century Northam Kyrie, a plainsong hymn asking ‘Lord have mercy upon us,’ is displayed beside a statue of Francis of Assisi. The Lady Chapel, dating to 1623, holds an 1866 organ and a war memorial altar. The churchyard is divided into an older and newer section. The older part holds graves of local figures, including a Napoleonic soldier and a character from Charles Kingsley’s novel. The newer section contains Commonwealth war graves, including one for an unknown merchant seaman. The Mortuary Chapel, once used for burials, now serves as a meeting room. The churchyard also holds graves of Anglican nuns and the conductor Clarence Raybould.