Margaret of Antioch was a Christian virgin whose tortures and martyrdom became famous in early books of Acts. According to the legend, she was the daughter of a 3rd or 4th century pagan priest of Antioch who was either thrown out of the house by her father when she converted to Christianity or was converted by her nursemaid. She was noticed by the local prefect who wanted to marry her, but she spurned him and vowed to keep her virginity for Christ. He turned her in to the Roman authorities to be persecuted. In prison she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon, but the cross she was carrying irritated his throat, and he spat her out unharmed. | ![]() |
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A patten was a type of "undershoe" consisting of a wooden sole fitted with leather straps and mounted on a large metal ring to raise the wearer from the muddy roads. By fastening the shoe on top of this with a leather strap, the wearer could walk through the mud of the City and arrive cleanshod. A pair of pattens
With the paving of the streets, the trade died out and it is thought that the last working pattenmaker died in the 19th century. However, a pattenmaker was still listed in a trade reference in the 1920s. A notice in the church still “requests women to leave their Pattens before entering”.
An alternative theory is that the name commemorates a benefactor, possibly one Ranulf Patin, a canon at St Paul's Cathedral during the mediaeval period.