St Margaret's Church, Leicester

History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester.]] St Margaret's has a long and complex history dating back perhaps as early the seventh century. The building is 12th, 13th, and mostly 15th century. Saxon foundations dating to the 9th or 10th century have also been uncovered. In medieval times it was venerated as the mother church of the Borough of Leicester, the oldest of its various Christian places of worship. It was also thought to be the former minster of its Anglo Saxon Bishops between 679 and the coming of the Vikings in the 870's. Because of this it became a focal point for all of Leicester's other parishes and monastic houses, the destination of the town's principal annual…

The exterior of St Margaret's is dominated by its large west tower, prominent south porch, and large chancel, the largest in the city. All of these date to the 15th century reconstruction project. It is by far the most architecturally unified of all the church edifices in the city and maintains an even perpendicular aspect on all sides. There is also an easily overlooked the corner pinnacle which most likely acted as a kind of preaching cross in the churchyard. The niches contained statues, one of which was probably of the Virgin Mary.

's 1920 work Medieval Leicester. St Margaret's extramural location is marked by the number 15 in the top left-hand corner of the image.]] The site presently occupied by St Margaret's Church stood outside the northernmost corner of the city walls of the ancient settlement of Ratae Corieltauvorum. The two diverging walls are represented by Sanvey Gate, following the route of the north wall, and Church Gate (whose lower section became the southern end of St Margaret's Way after redevelopment in the 1960s), following the route of the east wall. These walls survived the Roman occupation and became the boundary of the ancient borough of Leicester. During Roman times the area was used as cemetery.…