GILLINGHAM TQ86NW HIGH STREET, Rainham 686-1/8/107 (South side) 24/02/50 Church of St Margaret (Formerly Listed as: HIGH STREET, Rainham (South side) St Margaret's Church) GV I Church. Originally c1066, chancel and N chapel largely rebuilt mid C13, nave and N aisle early C14, C15 roof, tower c1470; restored 1869-71 by Joseph Clarke. MATERIALS: flint, partly rendered, and limestone dressings, tile-hung nave and aisle gables and Kentish ragstone rubble tower; tiled roof. STYLE: Decorated and Perpendicular. PLAN: chancel and N chapel, nave and N aisle and N and S porches and W tower. EXTERIOR: E end has 2 gables, the taller chancel gable has a single left-hand buttress and roughly-coursed masonry in the top of the gable, with a C19 3-light window; chapel gable has a right-hand buttress with offsets, some render to the top, a C19 4-light window with Decorated tracery, and a low C19 3-light mullion cellar window. 3-light N side has two C19 1-light windows with an altered C16 2-light W window with flat 2-centre arch. S side has a central buttress with an early C13 lancet to the right; C14 2-light windows either side, and a left-hand paired C16 window. Wider nave and aisles have tile-hung E gables, that to the nave with an 2-light C14 window; the N aisle is 4-bays with a C19 gabled porch with 2-centre arched doorway with hood mould and small 2-light side windows in a flat-headed frame, to an inner door with a fine C14 studded door; left-hand windows divided by a buttress, C16 shallow 2-centre arched left-hand window and 2-centre arched C19 windows either side of the porch. Crenellated 3-stage tower has angle buttresses and strings, with an octagonal NE stair tower offset at parapet level. A plain 2-centre arched W doorway with double doors beneath a 3-light window, a small niche with label over the ground-floor string, with flat-headed 2-light cinquefoil-headed windows to middle and top stages. S side has a large central gabled porch with side buttresses and a pointed arched door, with flanking C19 2-light windows. INTERIOR: chancel has an early C13 4-bay arcade with keeled shafts, interrupted by a sedilia with 3 gables and a small piscina; N arcade has an E C13 arch and 2 wider late C13 arches, with a good late C15 parclose with carved leafs to spandrels over 4-centre arches. Moulded chapel arch to the aisle has triple shafts and head stops, with rood openings either side. Crown post roof with moulded bases and capitals. Early C14 5-bay nave arcade has octagonal shafts, with a rood loft opening below the rood beam, and 3 tie beams with crown posts and diagonal braces and moulded wall plates; aisle has a similar roof. At the E end 2 bays of fine late C15 painted panels with sunbursts, Tudor roses repainted in Lancastrian white. In the S wall is a fragment of wall painting with a 1335 consecration cross. Fine N and S doors, the former with an inserted wicket. MEMORIALS: chancel E end: wall memorial, painted alabaster of kneeling couple within a flattened arch with pilasters and an open pediment with cartouche, and a reclining figure beneath, John Norreys d.1627. In the E bay is a Perpendicular chest tomb to Thomas Norreys d.1624, painted limestone top with re-set panelled sides. In the chapel NE corner a good marble statue of Nicholas Tufton, Earl of Thanet, d.1679, standing on a plinth in Roman armour, and flanking oval panels with family history. In the N wall, a seated figure of George Tufton d.1650 with a Latin inscription. STAINED GLASS: nave SE window by Hardman, 1871. FITTINGS: a fine C14 parish chest has 9 panels with trefoil heads and blind tracery, 2 cusped panels on top. C19 octagonal font, pulpit and pews. HISTORY: Pevsner reports further wall paintings overpainted, a Last Judgement and C15 St Christopher over a C14 St Christopher. (BoE: Pevsner N & Newman J: West Kent and the Weald: London: 1976-: 466; Dellar R: St Margaret's Rainham, Church Guide). Listing NGR: TQ8208365791