St. Margaret's
Church Extension.
Start Due - 2003
Various
factors were considered for the siting of the extension:
-
It
should be relatively inconspicuous to the general public.
-
It
must cause minimal damage to the existing fabric of the
church.
-
It
must enhance, or at least not detract from, the character
of the existing building.
-
It
must be convenient, without being intrusive
 The
proposed site on the north side of the church, we believe,
fulfil all these criteria.
The
extension takes advantage of the existing north door and therefore
does not cause any loss of mediaeval fabric. This
is towards ‘the back’ of the church and would cause
minimal disturbance during services. The
door itself is proposed to be repaired and the lower 900mm
restored, previously having been cut off and replaced by a
low brick wall. Internally, the C19 raised and boarded pew platform
at the west end of the north aisle will be removed to reveal
the earlier stone floor, which remains intact.
The
form and scale of the extension is designed to mirror the south
porch. In
keeping with all parts of the church, the walls would be faced
in flints with stone dressings and the roof set behind parapets. The
flints would be knapped as in the adjoining north aisle and
south porch walls, generally in a random pattern except in
the parapet, where they would be knapped and squared. The
flints would also be squared in the buttress faces.
 The
development of the Gothic style is well represented at St.
Margaret’s, which latterly, in the 15th and
16th centuries, became increasingly perpendicular;
the strong rectilinear design of the extension
is seen as a further development and introduces a distinctive
C20 flavour, which is sympathetic to the existing church, but
does not copy it.
This
pattern extends into the buttresses, which are square faced,
rather than diagonal. The
pattern of panels in the external walls increases in complexity
with height, and this reflects the increasing complexity of
decoration on the main body of the church.
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