Church of St Margaret [2 photos] in TR1457 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

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Church of St Margaret

St Margaret's is now a redundant church, but is probably the most visited church in Canterbury in its modern role as an audio–visual tourist attraction based on Geoffrey Chaucer's “Canterbury Tales”.
St Margaret's church was founded in the 12th century, though much of the present structure dates from the 14th century when it was developed as a perpendicular style 3 aisle church with a stone and flint exterior. In 1791 the chancel and eastern end of the aisles were truncated to allow horse drawn coaches to swing into the gate of the prestigious Royal Fountain Hotel exactly opposite. Around 1850 the interior was refurbished in the Victorian style, the pitched roofs added to the aisles and the chancel developed into the polygonal form that can be seen today by Sir Gilbert Scott. It became redundant in 1942 and was a church for the deaf until being converted into the Canterbury Tales visitor attraction in 1986. Since then the interior has been completely obscured by the exhibition, but photographs from 1942 of the original church can be accessed at the link below. These include an image of a monument to William Somner, the famous Canterbury historian and compiler of the first Anglo-Saxon dictionary, who died in 1669.

by N Chadwick

Created: Mon, 14 Apr 2014, Updated: Mon, 14 Apr 2014

2 images use this description:

TR1457 : Church of St Margaret by N Chadwick

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