Saint Margaret's Church is the parish church of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. It is dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch and is notable for its large illuminated blue spire which can be seen across the town. The church is located on a hilltop on the north-western edge of the town centre and was used as a navigation landmark. The church is within the deanery of Lothingland and archdeaconry of Norfolk. It falls within the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the East A ...

which extends into north Suffolk.

History

The church is medieval and a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

with an early 14th-century tower.Church of St Margaret, Waveney
''British Listed Buildings''. Retrieved 2012-10-30.Church history
''St Margaret's Lowestoft''. Retrieved 2012-10-30. It was founded by the Priory of St. Bartholomew in London which was granted the manor of Lowestoft in 1230 by Henry I.Page.A (1844) 'Lowestoft Parish', ''Topographical and genealogical, The County of Suffolk''

. Retrieved 2012-10-30. The church contains a wooden panel listing the parish priests since 1308. The church is built of flint and was substantially enlarged during the 15th century, with the aisles and nave dating from this period. It was refurbished during the Victorian period and the needle spire rebuilt in 1954, replacing the previous wooden spire which dated from 1483.Lewis.S (ed) (1848) 'Lowestoft (St Margaret)', ''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', pp. 179-181
available online
. Retrieved 2012-10-30. It contains the only known glasswork produced by Regency artist Robert Allen, installed in 1819.
''Suffolk Churches website''. Retrieved 2012-10-30. The east window glass dates from 1891 and the church also contains glasswork from St Peter's church, a daughter church of St Margaret's which was demolished in 1975.

Incumbents

Vicars *1308 John Ayshle *1330 Richard De Walcote *1331 John De Garboldesham *1339 Matthew De Rollesby *1347 John Everard *1360 John De Welberham *1365 William Homfrey *1383 ………..Apostolicus *1385 William Smogget *1432 William Sekynton *1442 John Mildewell *1456 Thomas Shirecroft *1456 John Manyngham *1458 Idem *1478 Thomas Epis Dromorensis *1490 Robert Tomsen *1507 John Wheteacre *1508 Edward Lee *1510 John Bayly *1511 John Brown *1540 John Blomevyle *1555 Thomas Downing *1561 William Naysh *1574 William Bently *1603 John Gleson *1610 Robert Hawys *…… Francis Presse *1639 James Rowse *1664 Henry Yowell *1660 John Youell *1677 Jos.Hudson *1691 Edward Carleton *1698 William Whiston *1702 James Smith *1708 John Tanner *1760 John Arrow *1789 Robert Potter *1804 Richard Lockwood *1830 Francis Cunningham *RECTORS *1860 Charles Hebert *1870 William Hay Chapman *1873 George Edward Tate *1880 Thomas Augustus Nash *1889 Charles D'Aguilar Lawrence *1901 Albert Darrell Tupper-Carey *1910

Edward Lowry Henderson Edward Lowry Henderson (1873 – 26 September 1947) was a priest in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. Born in 1873 and educated at Radley and Oriel College, Oxford, he was ordained in 1899. His first post was as a Curate of ...

*1917 Evan C. Morgan *1931 Hawtrey J. Enraght *1938 Ralph Layard Whytehead *1949 Henry Herbert Redvers Barton *1957

William John Westwood William John Westwood (28 December 1925 – 15 September 1999) was the 36th Anglican Bishop of Peterborough. Life Born at Saul, Gloucestershire, Westwood was educated at Grove Park Grammar School, Wrexham and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. ...

*1965 Kenneth Wilkinson Riddle (who had been Curate, 1943-47)''Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74'', 85th Edition, p 810. *1969 Douglas Caiger *1979 Alan Glendining *1985 Paul Allton *1994 Martin Clifford Gray *1999 John Simpson *2011 Michael Asquith *2023 Simon Stokes

Organists

*1790 - 1854 Robert Browne Snr. *1854 - 1871 Robert Browne Jnr. (Assistant organist 1871 - 1885 and organist of St. Peter's Church, Lowestoft). *1871 - 1885 Frederick Alexander Mann. *1885 - 1902 Harry Denton Flowers. *1902 - 1935 Ernest Banks. *1935 - 1969 Cyril John Mitchell. *1969 - 1977 John Alexander Farmer. *1977 - 1987 Michael Davies. *1988 - 1996 Robert McNeil-Watson. *1996 - 2010 Steven Alan Kirk. *2011 - 2019 David Bunkell. *2019 - Jonathan Stanton Williams

Interior

Within the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

the octagonal

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

dates from the 15th century. The brass lectern is a rare pre-

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

lectern dating from around 1500. It also contains one of only two remaining banner stave lockers, a feature which is believed to be unique to this area of Suffolk. There are a number of memorials within the church. The north wall of the church contains a memorial to fishermen who lost their lives at sea between 1896 and 1923. After this date the memorial was moved to The Lowestoft Fisherman's and Sailor's Bethel. A war memorial chapel contains a wooden wall inscribed with the names of 711 Lowestoft men who died in the First World War.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains

war graves War is an intense armed conflict between State (polity), states, governments, Society, societies, or paramilitary groups such as Mercenary, mercenaries, Insurgency, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violenc ...

of two service personnel of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and seventeen of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

.
CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown obtained from casualty record.

References

{{reflist Lowestoft Grade I listed churches in Suffolk