---
title: "St Margaret, Northam"
description: "Located in Northam, Devon. Built C13 origins; nave and chancel mainly C15; north aisle 1593; restored 1849–65. Diocese of Exeter. Grade I. Perpendicular with earlier tower style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Devon","Northam","Grade I","Perpendicular","Diocese of Exeter"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-margaret-northam"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T03:19:48.690Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:59:19.473Z"
location: "Northam, Devon"
country: "England"
county: "Devon"
town: "Northam"
address: "The Square, Northam, Devon, EX39 1JL"
postcode: "EX39 1JL"
built: "C13 origins; nave and chancel mainly C15; north aisle 1593; restored 1849–65"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Margaret"]
diocese: "Exeter"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular with earlier tower"
materials: "Stone; wagon roofs to nave and transept"
website: "http://www.tcmc.church/"
openingHours: "The church is open to visitors: Monday 4.30pm to 5.30pm. Wednesday 10am to 11am. Thursday & Friday 10am to 12noon. Sunday 9.15am to 12noon. It is also open on some Saturdays and for advertised events. Access at other times can usually be possible by arrangement."
parish: "Northam"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1169270"
gridReference: "SS 448 291"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Margaret, Northam

St Margaret of Antioch is a Grade I parish church on The Square, Northam, near Bideford in Devon, in the Diocese of Exeter and the Torridge Coastal Mission Community. Its tall west tower has long served as a seamark for shipping in Bideford Bay.

## Overview

The Historic England listing describes a church of mainly fifteenth-century date, with the lower part of the tower older, thoroughly restored between 1849 and 1865, in a fine position overlooking the sea. Devon’s Historic Environment Record first records the church in the mid thirteenth century and notes a font of the same date. The nave and chancel are held to be fifteenth-century; the base of the tower may contain earlier fabric. A five-bay north aisle and Lady Chapel were added in 1593. The mid-nineteenth-century restoration probably added the two porches and St George’s Chapel; a vestry was built on the north side of the tower in 1906–07.

The tower has diagonal buttresses, pinnacles and a polygonal stair turret, and houses a peal of eight bells. Wagon roofs cover the wide nave and a transept. A fourteenth-century “Kyrie” was discovered here. The parish history gives a benefice record of 1261 and a construction tradition around 1250. The church remains the Anglican parish church for Northam.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1169270](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1169270)
- [Heritage Gateway: St Margaret's Church, Northam](https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?resourceID=104&uid=MDV14991)
- [Torridge Coastal Mission Community](http://www.tcmc.church)