Crawley Old Town: THIRTY NINE PICTURES: St Margaret's Church, Ifield

St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in Ifield. It is the ancient parish church of the village of Ifield. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade I because of its architectural and historical importance.

The present building incorporates the chancel from a 13th-century church which may have replaced a wooden building of two or three centuries earlier.

At the east end of the nave are two large 14th-century stone effigies, survivors of the 17th-century upheaval and all subsequent changes to the church, and now considered to be "high quality" examples of their kind. They are life-size representations of a knight in a full suit of armour and a woman, both lying on their backs in prayer. Most sources identify them as John de Ifelde (Sir John of Ifield) and his wife, Lady Margaret. There is some disagreement over their date of death and the date the effigies were carved, although 1340 is most often cited.

More structural changes took place at regular intervals, and between 1883 and 1884, architect and archaeologist Somers Clarke and fellow architect J. T. Micklethwaite built a tall, substantial tower at the west end to replace an earlier small tower over the porch (which had itself replaced the much older bell turret); lengthened the nave; and removed a gallery at the west end of the church.

The church was built in the centre of the small settlement of Ifield, which was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. The present stone building is believed to stand on the site of an older wooden church—possibly dating from the 10th or 11th century. The earliest record of a vicar being present at the Church was in 1247 but is simply listed as '?' on the Church's list although 'Simon' took over in 1288 and there has been 53 vicars since then.

By the 13th century, the church had a stone-built nave and chancel; the latter survives in the present building, as does a 12th-century font which was probably taken from the building in place at that time. A chancel arch was inserted between the nave and chancel in about 1300. The dedication to Saint Margaret is later: it was first recorded in 1489.

Aisles were added to the nave in the 14th century, first on the north side and then on the south, doubling the seating capacity. More windows were also installed in the nave. A century later, a timber porch was built on the north side, the chancel arch was widened and a rood screen was installed, a standard feature of churches in the medieval era, as were wall decorations and paintings.

The next major work took place in 1760, when a gallery was built for the choir and the pews were replaced with large box-pews taken from St Margaret's Church, Westminster (the parish church of the Palace of Westminster in London). More restoration took place in 1785. In 1847, the roof was improved and a vestry was built, incorporating wood from one of Crawley's famous old trees, the "County Oak", which had been cut down at that time.

The exterior walls are of rough-hewn stone, but this has been hidden under modern layers of cement. The church is approached from the east through a lychgate at the end of Ifield Street, the ancient village street.

Many of the internal fittings date from the 19th-century renovations. The baptismal font is by far the oldest feature of the church, dating from the late 12th century. Made of local marble, it has an intricately carved stem flanked by four columns topped with delicate leaf-like capitals and roll mouldings, ornamentation uncommon on a Norman-era font. Its form is otherwise typical: a deep square bowl supported by a wide central column and four narrower shafts.