Church Of St. Margaret

The Church of St. Margaret is a parish church dating back to the 13th century, with subsequent alterations and additions in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries. It is constructed of squared greenstone rubble, squared limestone rubble, and red brick in English bond, with some rendering and slate roofs. The church comprises a western tower, a nave, and a chancel.

The two-stage tower, built in the 15th century, utilizes squared greenstone rubble for the lower stage and later brickwork above, with rendered and ashlar dressings to the lower stage. A brick band sits below belfry level, topped by a dogtooth cornice and a parapet, with the western face featuring battlements, a wide central battlement with a small pediment. A wooden case houses the bell, surmounted by a weather vane. Large clasping brick buttresses have been added to the western corners. The western doorway has a four-centred arched head, shields in the spandrels, a roll-moulded concave surround. Above is a 2-light 15th-century window with cusped lights. There are 2-light openings to the belfry stage with four-centred heads set in a chamfered brick surround with a hood mould.

The lower part of the nave is constructed of squared limestone rubble, and the upper part of brickwork with dogtooth eaves. The north side is generally blank, save for a blocked round-headed doorway. The north side of the chancel is entirely brick with dogtooth eaves. The east wall of the chancel has a three-light window from the 19th century. The south side of the chancel is partly rendered with brick patching and ashlar quoins. There are two 13th-century three-light windows, one with cinquefoil plate tracery and the other with intersecting tracery and a trefoil in the head. A pointed priest’s doorway is also present. The south side of the nave mirrors the north in construction, with brickwork above the limestone rubble. A central blocked doorway is flanked by two 19th-century two-light windows. The east wall of the tower reveals two pitch lines of earlier nave roofs.

Inside, the 15th-century tower arch features octagonal responds and a single chamfered pointed arch. The chancel arch is pointed but unmoulded. The chancel contains an aumbry with a pierced wooden screen. The roofs are 19th-century.

Notable fittings include a 12th-century circular font with a fine 16th-century wooden cover, a 17th-century oak chest, and an 18th-century panelled pulpit featuring later barley twist balusters and Ionic fluted and knopped newels. The chancel brass candelabrum is also from the 18th century. Most other fittings are 19th-century, although the low chancel screen may incorporate some 14th-century panels, and the pew ends are likely 16th-century. At the west end of the nave are two commandment boards.

Wall plaques in the chancel commemorate Norres Fynes (died 1735) and the Reverend Arthur Rockcliffe (died 1798), while a marble plaque in the nave commemorates Charles Pilkington (died 1798).