The Church of St Margaret is the Anglican Grade I listed parish church for the village of Laceby in Lincolnshire. Listed since 1967 and dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, it seats today approximately 300 people.
History and description The church is built of ironstone rubble and squared blocks with some chalk and flint rubble. There are limestone ashlar dressings and facing to the top stage of the tower, which dates to the 14th or 15th century. The lower part of the tower dates to the 10th or early 11th century. Other parts of the church, including the nave also date from the 10th to the 11th century, while the remainder of the arcade dates to the 13th century. The chancel is also 13th-century with the remains of blind arcading of that century and with 14th to 15th-century windows, while the pointed chancel arch is 19th century. Other Norman features include the main doorway arch inside the porch, a fine crenellated arch opposite the main door, separating the nave from the north aisle, and a window opening with more recent glazing dedicated to St Margaret.Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Penguin Books (1978), p. 291
Extensive rebuilding and restoration took place in 1869 by James Fowler, architect of Louth. At this time a clerestory at the top of the nave walls was removed and the roof line altered. Construction included the north aisle, chancel and much of the nave, while a new porch and vestry were added. During these restoration grave covers dating to the 10th, or early 11th century, were incorporated into the church's interior. A small, blocked-up, Norman-era window was also found on the east side of the porch. This was restored and stained glass depicting St Margaret of Antioch was installed. A matching window was created on the west side of the porch and installed with a depiction of St. John the Baptist.
Special services, led by Christopher Wordsworth, the Bishop of Lincoln, were held on 18 May 1870 to commemorate the re-opening of the restored church. An organ-chamber was added in 1912. A medieval mass dial is to be found on the outside of the west pillar of the main doorway.
The 1885 Kelly's Directory describes St. Margaret's as being built from Ancaster stone in Early English and Perpendicular styles, consisting of a chancel, nave, west porch and an embattled tower with pinnacles and four bells. Open benches for seating were added in 1850, and an organ in 1852. A monument to W. Laud (d. 1424) is in the chancel. At the east end of the nave can be found a floor slab to Ralph Ballel of 1730 with an oval panel with his arms and crest carved in relief.
The parish register dates from 1538, with a complete list of parish incumbents from the 12th century – one entry relates to the execution of a witch in 1546. The living was a rectory with of glebe land. In 1583 John Whitgift, a former St Margaret's rector from 1572 to 1577 who had become Bishop of Worcester, was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury by Queen Elizabeth I. He had been born in nearby Grimsby in 1530.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, pp. 508,509
St Margaret's is in The Laceby and Ravendale Group of churches, in the Deanery of Haverstoe and the Diocese of Lincoln., Diocese of Lincoln. Retrieved 12 June 2013 With St Margaret's, the Group includes St Andrew's at Irby upon Humber, and St Mary's at Hatcliffe.Laceby and Ravendale Group. Retrieved 12 June 2013 In 2013 the church held its 124th annual church garden party., Grimsby Telegraph, 11 June 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013
Stained glass windows These are largely mid-Victorian or later and, where dedicated, commemorate long-serving rectors of the parish. One in the south wall is mid-20th century and is dedicated to Henry Wynyard Knight (1863-1943), long-serving rector at Laceby from 1889 to 1943. Portraits in the window depict the confirmation of Knight to the living at Laceby in the parish church there by Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln. Another in the same window shows John Whitgift being confirmed as Dean of Lincoln in 1571, the year before he was appointed to the living at Laceby.
Rectors of Laceby
1179. Walter, Priest of Laceby 1219. John, clerk of Geoffrey de Nevill 1234. John de Middenhall 1260. Richard Ingeram 1261. Thomas de Barneby 1270. William Caples 1303. Walter de la Linde 1511. John de Stretton 1363. Simon de Veer 1367. John Tredgold 1396. Walter de Flynton 1426. Hugh de Flynton 1448. Robert Cawell 1490. Richard Butler 1527. William Skerne 1545. Roger Dalyson 1571. Thomas Stonynge 1572. John Whitgift, D.D., Archbishop of Canterbury 1577. Willam Bradley 1591. John Clark 1606. Thomas Rishworth 1632. Thomas Codd 1666. Stephen Boynton 1667. William Potter 1670. Lionel Catford 1671. William Poplewell 1679. Nicholas Sye 1682. Anthony Smythe
1686. Robert Janney 1696. Henry Champant 1727. John Clark 1768. John Beatnisse 1769. Jonathan Winship 1785. Thomas Dixon 1832. John Birkett 1849. William H. Hutchinson 1862. Edmund H. Knight 1889. Henry W. Knight 1944. Willoughby R. K. Robinison 1955. Lionel W. R. Bacon 1960. Clifford M. A. Dawson 1968. Sam Riley 1978. John E. Bassett 1983. Roger J. Ryan 1989. William Davison Caretaker Priest 1990 A. John Adamson 2005 Peter. M. Tompkins 2014 Philip T. Stevens MBE
References
External links St Margaret's, Laceby Church of England website St Margaret's, Laceby, Facebook page