On the north side of is the parochial church of St. Margaret.

This church is so called from being dedicated to St. Margaret, a virgin saint of Antioch, who suffered martyrdom in the reign of the emperor Decius; and it received the additional epithet of , from its situation, and to distinguish it from other churches dedicated to the same saint.

This church is a rectory, the foundation of which is of great antiquity, as appears from John de Haslingfield, who was presented to it, by the abbess and convent of Barking, in Essex, on the kal. of . The patronage continued in that convent till the general suppression of religious houses, when it fell to the crown, in whom it has continued to the present time.

The original church being greatly decayed by time, a new

It is situated on the north side of . The plan shews an oblong square body, with a south aisle, having a tower at the west end of it. In the south front of the aisle are large windows, with semicircular arched heads, bounded by architraves and square window, with a circular above it towards the east end. The elevation finishes with an attic and ballustrade; above is a clerestory lighted by circular windows; the entrance is in the basement story of the tower; it is lintelled, and has a handsome frontispiece, consisting of Corinthian columns sustaining an entablature and pediment; the tower has stories above the church. The and last contain windows with arched heads. The spire, which is leaded, rises on a square basement, having a concavity surrounding it, from which rises a small dome, on the vertex of which is a square obelisk, set on gilt balls, and finished with a ball and vane; it has much the appearance of the spire of St. Benet, Gracechurch.

The west front of the church has a large semicircular headed window, now closed up, between smaller ones of the same form, with circular windows above the latter . In this front of the tower is a lintelled entrance, with a circular window above it. The north side has arched windows, similar to those on the opposite side, with the same number of round windows above; beneath the window from the west end is a lintelled doorway; a portion of this side is concealed and window closed, by a house which is built against it. The east front is similar to the western , but the side windows are walled up. The walls of the church are built of brick. The tower is stone, and the east and south fronts have an ashlaring of Portland stone. The north and west fronts are composed. The interior is approached through a vestibule formed in the ground floor of the tower. The body is separated from the aisle at the south side, by columns of the Corinthian order, raised on plinths equal in height with the pewing; the columns sustain an architrave, and the order is continued in pilaster, with the architrave, round the whole building. The ceiling of the aisle is horizontal; that of the body is partly horizontal, forming a large pannel in form of a parallelogram in the centre, and coved at the sides, the latter portion is pierced with arches above the circular windows, which are all situated in an attic over the architrave, which serves as an impost to the arched portion of the ceiling. The altar screen is constructed in oak, in divisions; the central is plain and surmounted by the arms of king William III.; the side divisions are each ornamented with Corinthian pillars, sustaining an entablature and elliptical pediment. A gallery,

North.

The parish of St. Christopher-le-stocks was, by act of parliament, united to the parish of Margaret, Lothbury, in the 21st year of king George III., and in the year of our Lord 1781. The reverend Sherlock Willis, rector of St. Christopher. The reverend Henry Whitfield. D.D. rector of St. Margaret.

South.

These two paintings of Moses and Aaron, which formerly belonged to the church of St. Christopher-le-stocks, were removed hither on the parishes being united.

In the east window is a small oval medallion of queen Anne, in stained glass. The font, situated beneath the western gallery, is, perhaps, of the finest specimens of carving in basso relievo, in this country. It is a spherical basin, ornamented with cherub's heads, and the following subjects in compartments, viz. Adam and Eve in the act of taking the forbidden fruit, and thus constituting the fall of man. The salvation of Noah and his family in the ark. The baptism of our Saviour. And St. Philip baptizing the eunuch.

The compartments have been chosen with great knowledge and taste, every

one

of the subjects alluding to the sacred mystery connected with it.

The monuments are not numerous, of which, occupying a blank window, north of the altar, consists of a Doric column on a pedestal, sustaining an urn. On the pedestal stand small statues of Faith and Hope, and it is inscribed to the memory of Thomas Adrian, esq. died . This monument occupied originally a similar situation in the church of St. Christopher-le-stocks.

At the north-west angle of the church, is a fine brass bust of

PETRVS LE MAIRE AEQUES AURATUS. AE SUAE

88

,

1631

.

It is a fine piece of sculpture, and deserves a more conspicuous situation in the church, than the obscure corner where it is now placed, on a shelf, as if it was unworthy of preservation.

The church was erected in , at the expence of Sir Christopher Wren being the architect. Its dimensions are, length , breadth , height , and of steeple, feet.

[] Gent. Mag. vol. 91. pt. 1, page 21.