The history of St Margaret's

Origins

Domesday Book does not refer to a church in Chipstead but this does not guarantee that there was not an early wooden church. Indeed, this seems eminently possible as a yew tree, dated by dendrochronology to early Saxon times, grew in St Margaret’s churchyard until it was toppled in the storms of October 1987.

The first stone church is thought to have been a long high rectangular building (the present nave) dating from the end of the 12^th century (possibly as early as 1150). The oldest remaining feature is the once elaborate Romanesque north doorway (which was repositioned into the north wall when the Victorian north aisle was added). Unfortunately, the stone of the arch has worn badly and little remains of its dog tooth moulding and its capitals depicting a grotesque head with pointed ears and distended mouth swallowing the shafts. The even more impressive Romanesque west doorway shown below was replaced as part of Norman Shaw’s 1883 restoration.

The original Romanesque west doorway

The simple church does not seem to have lasted for long as it was significantly enlarged in the early 13^th century. Possibly funded by the Dammartins, St Margaret’s was made into a cruciform shape by the addition of a chancel and transepts and a central tower was built (see aging of beams below). At various times the transepts were probably used as private chapels and, in the north transept, there is evidence of an altar against its east wall. The outer walls consisted of flints with quoins and dressing of Reigate stone. Reigate stone was also used in the interior. The architectural style then in vogue was Early English Gothic and the vaulting under the tower and the narrow triangular headed lancets on the two sides of the chancel are good examples of this. Some 13^th century stained glass, showing the figures of St Peter and St Paul, remains in a window of the south transept.

There are similarities in style with work undertaken between 1190 and 1210 in the crypt at Lambeth Palace and it is possible that the same stone masons, led perhaps by Roger of Reigate, worked on both buildings. Particular similarities are the capitals on the columns, the corbels supporting the vaulting under the tower and the unusual triangular heads of the lancets. Roger of Reigate also worked on Westminster Abbey and the beautifully carved central rose boss in the crossing at St Margaret’s is very similar to one in the Abbey.

Late Medieval period

Later in the 13^th century a south aisle was added to St Margaret’s, possibly funded by Nicholas de Leukenore, but no north aisle was built until the Victorian period. The 14^th century octagonal font bowl is in the Decorated Gothic style. Each side of the bowl has a panel filled with different tracery patterns. The bowl stands on a circular stem with a moulded base. The 15^th century chancel screen (also known as a ‘Rood’ screen) was built in the Perpendicular Gothic style.

Tudor period

The Reformation was to impact the wealth of St Margaret’s. In 1552, in the reign of Edward VI, the church was required to list what it owned. The following year the church’s officials were summoned to appear before the King’s Commissioners and instructed to sell most of the church’s artefacts and ornaments. St Margaret’s was only allowed to retain one chalice, one altar cloth and its bells. No doubt, the Crown sequestrated the funds raised.

Stuart period

The Puritan values of the time are illustrated by events in Chipstead. In 1641, the Rector, the Rev George Moore, and 68 parishioners signed the protestation required by Parliament to defend the ‘true protestant reformed religion against all Poperie and Popish Innovations’.  However, in 1645, Moore was accused of being ‘a common drunkard and a swearer’ and was replaced by a Rector that was ‘godly and orthodox’. Like Charles II, the Rev Moore was however restored to his position in 1660.

In the 17^th century work seems to have been undertaken on the tower. The parapet has the date 1653 inscribed in it and its large square windows may date from this time. However, around 1655 (during the Civil War but not caused by it) the south transept burnt down. The remains of the transept were removed and the doorway from the crossing was filled in and furnished with a three-light window. The loss of the south transept and the absence of a north aisle left the church with a rather odd shape; symmetry at St Margaret’s would have to wait for the Victorian restorations two hundred years later. The fire in the south transept probably destroyed Chipstead’s parish records as the earliest ones at the Surrey History Centre date from 1656.

Four bells are recorded as hanging at St Margaret’s in 1552 but none of them remains today in their original form. The heaviest bell today, the 10-cwt bell, dates from 1595 (although in 1952 it had to be recast after a crack was discovered). The 7-cwt bell was recast by Richard Eldridge of Chertsey in 1607 and the 4-cwt and the 5-cwt bells are both dated 1658. A fifth bell, the 6-cwt bell, was added in 1785 having been cast by William Mears of London.

Many of the memorial floor slabs in St Margaret’s date from the 17^th century as does the small brass engraving on the altar platform which marks the grave of Lucy Roper who died at Dene Farm in 1614 at the tender age of 24. Anthony Stephens, the elderly husband of Mary Stephens, was buried in the church in 1695 and his tabard has hung over his grave ever since.

 Anthony Stephens’ tabard in St Margaret’s

In the reign of Charles II, John Pigeon gave St Margaret’s some carved wood panelling which was made into the pulpit. The panels remain in today’s hexagonal pulpit which has probably been adapted from the original ‘double-decker’ pulpit. In the 1950s more panelling of a similar style was discovered. This too was given to the church and is now incorporated in the organ case.

Georgian and Regency period

St Margaret’s Church seems to have been rather neglected in the Georgian period especially during the long tenure of the absentee rector, John Griffiths (called John Griffies by Charles Pringle in his book The History of Chipstead). There are reports that, at this time, the dead lay in the church for long periods before burial. An etching of the church made in 1794 by John Fanshawe’s daughter, Penelope, shows that the south transept had still not been restored - indeed there appears to be a tree growing in the area where it should have been. However, St Margaret’s was not completely neglected in this period as George III’s royal arms were added to the chancel screen and a fifth bell was added in the belfry. There is also a memorial to the Rev James Tattersall who died in 1784.

Etching of St Margaret’s Church around 1790

In 1809 Griffiths (Griffies) was succeeded by the Rev Peter Aubertin, the elder. Aubertin, of Huguenot stock, devoted energy and money to restoring the church’s fabric. He also restored the Rectory in Mugswell to its proper use and repaired it. Work on the church commenced in 1827 when the setting of the font was improved and in 1830 the height of the south wall of the church was raised.

Victorian period

During the Victorian period Peter Aubertin the elder continued his restoration work, acting as his own architect. In 1852 a gallery at the west end was removed and in 1855 the south transept was rebuilt on the original foundations and the roof of the nave was replaced. Before he became Rector, Peter Aubertin’s son installed new stained glass in the east window which has the inscription ‘Designed, executed and leaded by Peter Aubertin and Mary Eliza, his wife AD. 1851’. While Aubertin painted some of the stained glass much of it is fragments of medieval glass collected from other churches. The three central figures are surrounded by a jigsaw of ancient fragments, some dating back to the 14^th century.  In 1857 the chancel was re-roofed. Rather curiously it seems rectors were personally responsible for the maintenance of church chancels and, as an economy measure perhaps, it was reported that Peter Aubertin the elder used oaks from his glebe in Mugswell.

Peter Aubertin the elder died in 1861 but the restoration work continued under his son – another Peter Aubertin. Peter Aubertin the younger was fascinated by stained glass and had a furnace installed at the Rectory in Mugswell. As well as designing and constructing the glass for the east window he also worked on the lancets in the south transept, filling them with imitation 13^th century Grisaille glass. However, possibly his finest work is the high circular window in the south transept which Aubertin fitted with some fragments of early 14^th century glass.

Around 1881, John G Cattley employed the prominent Victorian architect Richard Norman Shaw to make further modifications to St Margaret’s. The church was closed for a year and reopened in 1883. During this time a north aisle had been added, the west end of the church remodelled and new pews added. Not everyone saw Shaw’s restoration work as an improvement and the loss of the Norman west doorway was especially lamented. The Rector seems to have involved the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and, in correspondence dated July 1883, they describe the replacement of the west doorway by ‘a very eccentric variety’ of Neo-Gothic architecture as ‘perfectly wanton damage’.

In return for bearing the expense of the work Mr Cattley wished to have confirmation that the north transept was reserved for the use of the owners of Shabden Park - a practice which seems to have already been in existence for a generation or more. Confirmation was given by means of a Faculty but the owners of Shabden were required to contribute to the maintenance of the transept. This responsibility continued until 1936 at which time Surrey County Council passed it to the Parochial Church Council.

In 1896 a doorway from the south aisle to the south transept was filled to help buttress the tower after some movement had taken place. Because of this weakness the bells have only been ‘clapped’ not ‘rung’ since 1881.

 St Margaret’s nave before the 1883 restoration

St Margaret’s nave after the 1883 restoration

The Victorian period was a time of elaborate memorials to the dead. Inside the church there are white marble wall monuments to Edward Banks (died 1835) and Archibald Little (died 1844) as well as plaques and tablets to lesser dignitaries. The photograph below shows the Tattersall memorial (which dates from 1784) prior to Shaw’s 1883 restoration and the Romanesque north door can be seen to its right.

Marble memorial to the Tattersalls in 1882

Outside there is a two-tiered stone and marble memorial to the Tattersalls and Paul Docminique (who was related to them). In the churchyard there are also the tombs of Sir Edward Banks, the Fanshawe family, the Little family and a memorial dedicated to Thomas Walpole, his wife Margaret, his grandson Henry Spencer and his wife Frances Selina.

The location of important tombs in St Margaret’s churchyard

Twentieth Century

In June 1914, suffragettes tried to burn down the church by placing flammable material by three of its wooden doors. Fortunately, the fires were discovered by two passing cyclists (at three o’clock in the morning!) and they extinguished the flames with the only damage being done to the west door. However, more damage to the church occurred during World War II. In September 1940 a parachute land mine exploded close to St Margaret’s Church causing great damage to the church’s east window (fortunately the stained glass of the east window had been safely stored in South Lodge in 1939). In 1944 there was further damage to the east window as well as damage to the roof and the tower. Still more damage was caused by the V1 flying bomb that fell in the garden of number 4 Church Lane Avenue. Hugh Scott-Willey wrote a very detailed record of the damage to St Margaret’s Church during the war and he supervised the repair work that was not completed until the end of 1947. The repair work included the replacement of the window commemorating the death of the sons of Henry Spencer Walpole who died in World War I.

After World War II a new stained-glass window was installed in the north transept. This shows the coats of arms of the various owners of Shabden who had enjoyed the exclusive use of the north transept. In 1985 a new vestry was added in the north-west corner and in 2000 the stonework around the west door was restored. In 2012, rather controversially, a new junior church, ‘The Orchard’, was built partially underground in the churchyard. Opponents of the project questioned whether a new building was needed and whether the substantial cost of about £500,000 was justifiable.

The Orchard

Vandalism and petty robbery started to become a problem. In 1965 the crested helmet carried at Anthony Stephens’ funeral in the 17^th century was stolen from the chancel and there was an attempt to set fire to the building. Reluctantly, in 1978, the Parochial Church Council (PCC) decided that the building needed to be kept closed except for services.

In October 1987 there was much damage to trees in Chipstead caused by ‘The Great Storm’. Very sadly a yew tree that had reportedly grown in the churchyard since Saxon times was toppled by the strong winds. It was replaced the following year with a sapling and, in 1995, a small tree grown from a graft taken from the original yew was planted to mark the celebration of over 800 years of worship at St Margaret’s. The cover of the font was fashioned from the wood of the original tree.

Rectors of St Margaret’s copied from a plaque in the church

Rectory

After being located in The Old Rectory in nearby Mugswell since about 1450 there were to be two changes to the location of the Rectory in the 20^th century. In 1902 a substantial new Rectory was built on Elmore Road just a few hundred yards from the church. Running costs were however high and in 1990 a decision was made to ‘downsize’. A smaller house in Starrock Lane was acquired and the building on Elmore Road was sold and renamed ‘Glebelands’.

Elmore Road Rectory 

Changes to the Parish Boundary to include Netherne

The new housing development across the A23 at Netherne was seen as an opportunity to increase numbers attending St Margaret’s which had, in the Rev Patrick Bateman, an active Rector. In particular, Netherne-on-the-Hill was full of young families which Rev Bateman wanted to attract. Historically, Netherne had been within the Parish of Merstham but its church, St Katherine’s, was a more traditional church with an older congregation.  St Margaret’s was also the closest church to the new development and several families were already attending church in Chipstead. It made sense that Netherne should become part of Chipstead parish and both St Katherine’s and the Diocese of Southwark agreed. The expansion of the boundary to include Netherne was agreed by St Margaret’s PCC in May 2008 and the move was ratified by the relevant diocesan committee that summer. Martin Lambie-Nairn (designer of the original Channel 4 logo and former Chipstead resident) was invited to update St Margaret’s logo to reflect the expansion.  He did this by using the M in Margaret’s to show that the parish was now on two hills separated by a deep valley.

Aging the beams in the Bell Tower

Analysis by Manning and Bray in the late eighteenth century (The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, Volume 3, 1804) and confirmed by other experts in later years, suggests that the Bell Tower at St. Margaret’s Chipstead was built in the  early 13^th century when the original very simple Norman church was extended by the addition of a chancel, the crossing and the north and south transepts.

There are some very old beams within the lower level of the Bell Tower and the Chipstead History Group thought that there was merit in getting these aged and funds were raised from its members.  A dendrochronologist spent several hours at St. Margaret’s in June 2025 and took 7 sample cores for analysis. Of these four provided tree ring data that could be dated and the dendrochronologist  concluded that the beams dated to 1448. Another fascinating discovery was the existence of a number of daisy wheel ‘witch marks’ (designed to scare away witches) on one of the beams.

While it is tempting to assume that the 1448 date relates to the building of the Bell Tower itself, caution is needed. Behind these old beams there are round-arched windows which were filled in many years ago. The beams, especially the scissor bracing, obstruct these old windows and it seems likely that the beams were installed after the windows were filled in and were therefore replacements for even older timbers. If the tower was indeed built in the early 13^th century the replacement of its main beams after about 200 years seems plausible - especially if the work was done at the same time as a project to heighten the tower.

Jon Grant                         April 2026