Southwark St Margaret

Southwark St Margaret
Ancient parish
History
 • Abolished1541
 • Succeeded bySouthwark St Saviour
StatusAncient parish
GovernmentGuild of the Assumption of St Margaret's Church
 • HQSt Margaret's Church
Contained within
 • BoroughSouthwark
 • HundredBrixton
 • CountySurrey
 • CountryEngland
Today part ofLondon Borough of Southwark

St Margaret was a parish in the ancient borough of Southwark, located south of the River Thames in the Brixton Hundred of Surrey. It was abolished in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and replaced with the parish of St Saviour. The parish church was located on what is now Borough High Street and the area now forms part of the London Borough of Southwark.[1] It was from 1444 governed by the Guild of the Assumption of St Margaret's Church.

History

The parish of St Margaret was located in the Brixton Hundred of Surrey. It included the Liberty of the Clink and the Liberty of Paris Garden.

In 1295 the ancient borough of Southwark was enfranchised and initially consisted of the parish of St Margaret and the parishes of St George the Martyr, St Olave and St Mary.[2]

The parish was abolished in 1541 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the Priory of St Mary Overie was dissolved. Its former area was combined with that of the small parish of St Mary, which had covered the precinct of the priory, to form the new parish of St Saviour.[3][4][5]

Governance

The parish was unusual in that from 1444 its affairs were under the control of the Guild of the Assumption of St Margaret's Church. The guild was incorporated by letters patent in 1449 with parishioners able to elect 2 or 3 wardens. In 1536 the church wardens obtained authority by act of Parliament for the purposes of enlarging the churchyard. When the parish was replaced by St Saviour in 1541 the guild became the Corporation of Wardens of St Saviour's Parish, an organisation still in existence as the United St Saviour's Charity.[6][7]

St Margaret's Church

The parish church on St Margaret's Hill (now known as Borough High Street) was granted to the Priory of St Mary Overie by Henry I in the 12th century.[8] It was rebuilt in the 13th century. After being deconsecrated it was converted for use as the Borough Compter and destroyed in the Great Fire of Southwark in 1676.[9] The church was a notable example of the practice of putting on religious plays.[10]

References

  1. ^ St Margaret's Parish (Southwark, London, England) (1537). Lease from St. Margaret's Parish, Southwark to Thomas Glover, Waterman.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Youngs, Frederic (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England. Vol. I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-901050-67-9.
  3. ^ Roberts, Howard and Walter H. Godfrey, eds. Bankside (The Parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark). Vol. 22 of Survey of London. London: London County Council, 1950. Remediated by British History Online.
  4. ^ Barron, Caroline; Carlin, Martha; Rosenthal, Joel T. (30 November 2017). Medieval London: Collected Papers of Caroline M. Barron. ISD LLC. ISBN 978-1-58044-257-2. St Saviour Southwark took over St Margaret Southwark and so has been included. Those which established lectureships but had not had parish fraternities before 1548 were St Margaret Lothbury, St Mary Aldermanbury, St Michael Paternoster, ...
  5. ^ Rendle, W. (1878). Old Southwark and Its People. United Kingdom: W. Drewett.
  6. ^ "The Discovery Service".
  7. ^ 'Borough High Street', in Survey of London: Volume 22, Bankside (The Parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark), ed. Howard Roberts and Walter H Godfrey (London, 1950), pp. 9-30. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol22/pp9-30
  8. ^ 'The borough of Southwark: Churches', in A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 4, ed. H E Malden (London, 1912), pp. 151-161. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/surrey/vol4/pp151-161
  9. ^ Bedford, Kristina (15 February 2019). Secret Southwark and Blackfriars. Amberley Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-1-4456-7659-3. ... to St Mary Magdalene against the wall of the Priory church to serve the needs of resident laymen, while the Parish Church of St Margaret, situated on the west side of what is now Borough High Street at its junction with Southwark ...
  10. ^ MacLean, Sally-Beth (1996). Festive Liturgy and the Dramatic Connection: A Study of Thames Valley Parishes. Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, 8, 49–62.

51°30′14″N 0°05′28″W / 51.504°N 0.091°W / 51.504; -0.091