Stanstead St Margarets is a village in the East Hertfordshire district, 4 miles E of Hertford and 2 miles SE of Ware. The church is in the village centre., and is a single cell buildingwith a bellcote over the W gable. Construction is of flint rubble with stone dressings. The building is 12thc. in origin, see the round headed window E of the S doorway, but it was rebuilt with a N aisle in the early 14thc, the aisle was later removed. to house a college with 5 chaplains. This was dissolved in 1431 and the aisle removed but remains of the arcade are still visible on the exterior. The church was restored from 1807 including the addition of the bellcote. Two N vestries were added in the later 19thc. The only Romanesque feature recorded here is the S nave window.

Stanstead St Margaret is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey under its older name of Thele, and was probably (according to VCH) included in the manor of Hailey in Great Amwell. This was held by Geoffrey de Bech in 1086, and had passed to Ralph Pincerna by the early 12thc, from whom it was held by the Buruns. Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford also appears to have had rights in the manor.

The nave of the church was built in the early 12thc. The church was made collegiate with 5 chaplains in 1316, when the chancel was remodelled and a N chapel and aisle were erected. The college was dissolved in 1431 and the aisle removed, but the arches of the N arcade are still visible on the exterior. The church was restored by the Rev. J. S. Pratt from c.1807, and this restoration inclued the addition of the W bell-cote. The N vestries were added in the later 19thc., and the church was restored again in 1903 for Septimius Croft of St Margaretsbury, Lord of the Manor.

The decoration in the jambs of the S window is unusual. It is not noted by RCHME, Bettley or the VCH, while the List Description described it as incised billet. It is unusual and appears to be reset and possibly incomplete.