The church, dedicated to St. Margaret of Antioch, is very pleasantly situated on rising ground in the centre of the village. It consists of a nave with north and south aisles and a tower at the east end of the north aisle - a rather unusual position, but similar to Grays.
The walls are constructed mainly of rag stone rubble with some flint; these materials are most likely to have been shipped from Kent. The dressings are of Reigate limestone. The roofs are covered with tiles and lead.
The attraction of the site and the extensive neighbouring Saxon presence at Mucking - not forgetting the establishment of a mission base at East Tilbury by Cedd in 653 — strongly suggest the possibility of Stanford having a Saxon church. Sadly there is,as yet, no evidence to support this speculation.
The present church seems to date from about 1180. This late Norman building was soon enlarged in the usual way by adding a south aisle and chantry chapel, followedalmost immediately by a north aisle in about 1280. Then about sixty years later, the south aisle was remodelled and the chancel extended eastwards to provide greater space for the more elaborate ritual, which was becoming fashionable. The original rather low tower was probably of this period also. The south chapel was rebuilt in the 15th century.
In the early 19th century the church fell into disrepair; the north aisle was used as the village school and the rest of the building was said to be used as a dump for the rubbish of the parish. The whole building was restored from 1874.
In 1883 the vestries at the west end were added and the new tower was built in 15th century style in imitation of that of St.Mary, Prittlewell.
The cache has a log book but no pen so please bring one with you.
PLEASE REPLACE THE LOGBOOK IN THE ZIPLOCK BAG AS THIS KEEPS IT DRY !!
This cache meets the GAGB Urban Placement Guidelines.
If any body would like to expand to this series please do,could you please let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.