Bell Tower - Church of St.Margaret of Antioch, The Green, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, SS17 0BY - Bell Towers on Waymarking.com

Granted Grade I listing, this ancient church was established in the C12th but is mainly of C14th build with extensive remains from both the C12th and C13th. There are later alterations. Built of ragstone rubble with some flint and limestone dressings and with tiled roofs.

The nave is circa 1180, north arcade and parts of the south arcade are C13th, the west of the south arcade, the clerestorey, north and south aisles, and the chancel are C14th, whilst the south porch is C16th.

The north tower is of 1883 built to replace a collapsed earlier tower at the east end of the north aisle, hence the short clerestorey on the north side. Of three stages it has straight buttresses on the north corners, large 'perpendicular' bell openings and corner pinnacles with parapets. There is some chequered and carved stone decoration at all levels and three clock faces. It holds a complete Taylor ring of eight bells cast in 1939 hung for ringing in the English style. The ringing chamber is at the second level reached by a spiral staircase in the south-east corner. There are two inscriptions commemorating its building in 1883 running the width of the tower on a level with the bottom of the ringing chamber windows, that on the east face in English reads:- " this tower once down / to God again rebuilded rings with pleasing strain ". The short first line wraps round the rebuilding date, 1883. The first line of the inscription on the north face also wraps round, here a statuette of St.Margaret of Antioch, the church's patron saint. It is in Latin and reads:- " ecce turris olim strata / deo rursus exornata resonanti voce grata ".

The bells now in the tower replace an earlier ring of six. A brass plaque in the church records:- " To the Glory of God / The six bells hung in this tower / in the year 1884 were recast and / two added by parishioners and / friends in 1939. / The work of John Taylor & Co. / Loughborough ".

The following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the weights in kg, the sounding notes of the bells, the founder and the year of casting.

          Bell 	  Weight         Note            Dated 	      Founder
            1     194.59          G              1939       John Taylor & Co
            2     189.60          F#             1939       John Taylor & Co
            3     205.48          E              1939       John Taylor & Co
            4     218.63          D              1939       John Taylor & Co
            5     245.39          C              1939       John Taylor & Co
            6     286.22          B              1939       John Taylor & Co
	    7     397.80          A              1939       John Taylor & Co
	    8     573.79          G              1939       John Taylor & Co

The bells are rung for divine service, weddings and practice night is Thursday. There are three services every Sunday.

Words from British Listed Buildings, Pevsner's Essex Buildings, and amended and added to with own on-site observations.

Co-ordinates are for the tower.

Address of Tower: Bell Tower - Church of St.Margaret of Antioch The Green Stanford-le-Hope, Essex UK SS17 0BY Still Operational: yes Number of bells in tower?: 8 Rate tower: Tours or visits allowed in tower?: Yes Relevant website?: Not listed

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