St Margaret of Antioch, Chippenham, Cambridgeshire

The church of St Margaret of Antioch in Chippenham dates back to the 12th century,although it was considerably remodelled after a fire in 1447. It has a very fine painting of St Christopher which is dated to the 15th century.

St Margaret’s is one of the Cambridgeshire churches that Violet Pritchard documents in her book English Medieval Graffiti (Pritchard, V. English Medieval Graffiti. 1st edition, Cambridge University Press, 1967.) In it she notes three examples of graffiti – an elaborate figure (upside down), communion wafers and another simple figure. On this visit to the church I could only find the upside down figure and the communion wafers. However, a lot of the columns are covered in many layers of graffiti and the third figure is there waiting to be spotted.

In a church with an abundance of graffiti, some of the more interesting examples can be found in the tower. It is not uncommon for bell ringers to leave graffiti of their names and occasional dates but in St Margarets are some examples of bell ringing changes having been written out on the stones of the tower itself. One set : 1234/2134/2314/2341/3241 can be identified as ‘minimus double canterbury‘. 

There are several protective marks on the columns including compass circles, crosses, Marian marks, swastika peltae, saltires and burn marks on the doors.

There are an unusual number of graffitied animals on the columns of the church including birds and a horse with saddle and bridle. There are also some figures including a caricature of a head with a large hat and a pipe.

A church with as much graffiti on many overwritten stones as St Margaret’s naturally has many examples that fall into the ‘Other, please specify’ category. These include a gameboard, several shields and some script.

The names and initials don’t come with a large number of dates and where they do, the dates are mostly 20th century. J Burroughs 1596 is the standout example.

Report by Anthea Hawdon

St Margaret of Antioch, High Street, Chippenham, Ely, CB7 5PP

Generally open during daylight hours. Street parking outside.

 

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