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ST MARGARETS CHURCH OWTHORPE
Owthorpe Church dedicated in honour of St Margaret has stood on its present site since 1140. It has been rebuilt or added to over the years and is certainly much smaller today with only the north wall of the much larger church remaining.
St Margaret’s has many interesting features including a 3- decker pulpit with a Jacobean moulded canopy regularly used by the minister when preaching his sermon.
A font with its embattled edge dates from the 14th century and has seen many baptisms over the years. A painted screen and a single-handed clock dates bears the date 1705. The church also has a chalice and communion plate dating c 1576 donated by Colonel John Hutchinson, which is used regularly for worship at St Margaret's.
As of 2006 the borough council records a population of 90, so the parish is too small to have a parish council and has a parish meeting instead.
Owthorpe was at one time the seat of the powerful, Hutchinson family. A large manor house was located there until it burned to the ground in a fire. Owthorpe Hall was the manor house of the Hutchinsons, one famous member being John Hutchinson, the parliamentary army officer and regicide. The family vault under the nave is now sealed off, but when the floor gave way in 1859 it was found to contain 17 coffins.
Owthorpe is a pleasant village, the church sits away from the village surrounded by a low wall in farmland. Access is only along a narrow grass track, muddy in winter months, and through a timber gate. The track and the graveyard are on a public footpath. Parts of St Margaret's date from the 12th century.
The structure has undergone many changes over the centuries and has recently undergone repairs. The north wall has survived as part of the original, larger church.
Access to the church may well be easy, the cache however is situated slightly away from the church and access is across farmland. The public footpath and stile can often become waterlogged after rainfall.
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