A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



of six years between 1592 and 1598. They have 

 been printed down to 1 75 1.*** 



The churchyard, which is very extensive, lies 

 chiefly on the north and south sides of the 

 building, with entrances from the road, which 

 bounds it on the cast side, at the north-east and 

 south-east corners. A new detached burial 

 ground on the opposite side of the road further 

 south was consecrated in 1889. 



The church of ST. MARGARET stands on 

 high ground near the bottom of Crossgate, above 

 the left bank of the river, immediately opposite 

 the castle, and consists of a chancel 25 ft. by 

 22 ft., with north vestry and organ chamber, and 

 south chapel 13 ft. 6 in. wide, clearstoried nave 

 46 ft. by 24 ft., with north and south aisles, 



■I 121!! Cl-NTURY 



■dig 5 

 ^141!! Cent. 

 ^l5Il!Cb-NT. 

 E3 Modern 



the westernmost arch of the arcade. The detail 

 of the arcade itself is fairly late in style, and the 

 date of the erection of the building may have 

 been about 11 50. The church was enlarged 

 c. 1 195 by the addition of a north aisle and the 

 rebuilding of the chancel on a larger scale, the 

 present north arcade and chancel arch dating 

 from this period. The south aisle was rebuilt 

 in the 14th century during the episcopate of 

 Richard de Bury, and the clearstory windows on 

 this side, recently renewed, are said to have been 

 of this date. Those on the north side, which 

 still remain, are, however, of the 15th century, 

 when either they were inserted or the clear- 

 story wall rebuilt, the church at the same time 

 undergoing alterations and additions. The 



Scale of Feet 



Durham City : Plan of St. Margaret's Church 



north and south porches, and west tower 11 ft. 

 square, all these measurements being internal. 



The oldest parts of the building are the south 

 arcade of the nave and parts of the west wall to 

 the north and south of the tower, which date 

 from the 12th century and are all that remains of 

 the original church of that period. This early 

 church consisted of a nave of the same size as at 

 present, a south aisle, short chancel, and possibly 

 a small west tower. There was also a nave 

 clearstory, one of the windows of which still 

 remains on the south side immediately above 



80 Edited by Rev. A. W. Headlam, M.A., Vicar, 

 1891 (T. Caldcleugh, Durham). After 1680 the 

 burials, including a repetition of those from 22 Aug. 

 1678 to the end of 1679, are in a separate register. 

 There is a duplicate register beginning May 1695 

 and ending July 1706, the entries varying occasionally 

 in fulness of detail. In June 1672 was buried 'Jane 

 Sym, sexton of this parish and wife of John Sym sexton 

 deceased.' 



chapel*' or aisle on the south side of the chancel, 

 which is slightly wider than the south aisle of 

 the nave, is of 15th-century date, and an arch on 

 the west end of the north wall of the chancel 

 suggests that the north aisle of the nave was 

 extended eastward to half the length of the 

 quire at the same time. The existing tower, 

 whether an addition or a rebuilding, belongs also 

 to the 15th century, and probably a porch or 

 porches were also built. The plan then assumed 

 more or less its present shape, with the exception 

 of the buildings north of the chancel, which are 

 entirely modern. Some repairs appear to have 

 been done in 1699, that date occurring on a spout 

 head on the south side,*^ but no structural 

 changes of any importance seem to have been 

 made till the latter half of the 19th century. 

 The building, however, experienced the usual 



81 Possibly the chantry of the Blessed Virgin. 



82 Another has the initials I. W. 



178 



