Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret is a parish church dating back to the early 12th century, with significant additions and alterations in the late 12th century, 14th century, and restorations in 1862 and 1878. It is constructed primarily of chalk, greenstone, ironstone, and limestone rubble blocks, with limestone ashlar dressings, and some red brick. The roofs are slate, with stone coped gables and cross finials. A tall, gabled bellcote with pointed openings and a cross finial sits atop the structure.

The west front was rebuilt in the 19th century using red brick with greenstone corners, featuring three buttresses flanking a pointed window with two cusped lights, a mouchette, and a hood mould. The north side of the nave has plinth and red brick patching, with two 19th-century windows, each containing two cusped, ogee-headed lights, continuous mullions, mouchettes, and a hood mould. The gabled organ chamber also features red brick and greenstone bands and includes a circa 1300 window, restored in the 19th century, with a pointed head and Y tracery.

The 19th-century chancel has red brick and greenstone bands and a plinth. Its east end has three pointed, cusped lancets, with the central one being taller. The south side of the chancel incorporates a re-set early 14th-century window featuring two cusped, ogee-headed lights, a quatrefoil, a cusped oculus, and half oculi.

The nave has two 19th-century windows, similar to those on the north side, alongside a small early 12th-century round-headed light with a deeply moulded head and chamfered surround. A gabled porch, with plinth and low angle buttresses, provides access to the south doorway, which is pointed, chamfered, and set within a hood mould with label stops. The interior of the porch contains flanking stone benches.

The south doorway of the porch dates to the late 12th century and features a round head with a plain, chamfered outer order and a chamfered inner order with dogtooth motifs of varying designs, supported by single shafts with waterleaf and crocket capitals, and plank doors. The 19th-century pointed chancel arch has double chamfered head and jambs. A richly moulded, pointed arch with dogtooth decoration, believed to be originally from the ruins of Louth Abbey, is reused in the organ chamber.

Various painted inscriptions adorn the windows. 19th-century reredos and panelling are located at the east end of the chancel. The church contains a fine 15th-century eagle lectern, a 14th-century octagonal font with three cusped, pointed lights to each panel, an octagonal plinth, and a moulded base, along with 19th-century roofs, pews, and a pulpit. A 13th-century cross head with flowerhead decoration is fixed to the north-west window ledge of the nave.