St Margarets Church
The church of St. Margaret is a small but exquisitely beautiful building, situated on the bank of the river Wye. It occupies the site of the former edifice, and was erected in 1858 from the designs of Mr. Thomas H. Rushforth, of Regent street, London, at a cost of £2,680, the whole of which was defrayed by the late rector and Stephen Allaway, Esq. It consists of nave (in the Norman style), chancel with vestry attached, south aisle, western porch, and tower (in the Early English style). The interior is adorned with beautiful stained glass by Clayton & Bell, of London, while the pulpit, reading desk, font, &c., are splendid specimens of carving in Caen stone, inlaid with different-coloured marbles and alabaster. The organ was built by Gray & Davison, of London, and is a fine-toned instrument. The altar table and chancel stalls are of carved oak. There are 96 sittings in the body of the church, all free. The only ancient monument is an effigy, supposed to be that of the Countess of Salisbury, nurse to Henry V. It occupies a niche in the east wall of the aisle. The parish registers commence with the year 1699; some are very imperfect.
Building history: Allaway hired the architect TH Rushforth of London, and furnished him with the funds, of £2,680 to create a quite remarkable building, bursting with detail. Allaway may well have been the Managing Partner, Lydbrook Tin Works.. It consists of nave (in the Norman style), chancel with vestry attached, south aisle, western porch, and tower (in the Early English style).
TH Rushforth also designed St Denis’s Chapel at Harewood Park a few years later in1864
Some artefacts from the previous church on the site, which was mentioned in the Book of Llandaff and in Charters of 1069 and 1160, were relocated in the church, such as the effigy of a Lady, while other monuments and fittings were removed, for example the Vaughan memorials which were moved to the chapel of St Mary at Courtfield. The church is basically unchanged since construction.
information from http://www.oldnall.co.uk/index.html
Found this on the way back home after picking up a mountain bike that I won on e-bay. Had been driving a while, through lanes and tracks, then came across this small track leading down into the forest. From below I could see an abandoned factory peering up at me, so with a smile I thought yes! ...I headed down the track which narrowed to the point of thinking "will it fit?"...it did, just. I reached the bottom after a wicked hair pin bend which required a 3 point turn. After parking next to a YHA hostel, I left the car and found this church situated behind..... Spent a while here taking a few photos and then wandered along a path at the side of the river Wye.....At the end of the path I found the bridge I had been heading for, only to realise I had come in from the opposite direction and from the opposite side of the river to the same bridge from a previous explore lol......The factory was the one we had tried to get in a few weeks ago ....To no avail I might add.....security gaurd and German Shepherd on guard!!.... Do have some pics from that explore which I will add on another page. By thetime I got back to the car and headed back up the terrible trail, it was getting dark and a cold mist had started to form. Had a nice few hours wandering about......I have found a few pieces of information regarding the church which I have added to the page...Hope you enjoy.
