Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St. Margaret is a parish church with origins in the mid-13th century, and subsequent phases of work in the 15th century and 1750. It was heavily restored and partly rebuilt by W. Scorer in 1890-1. The church is constructed of green sandstone rubble blocks with limestone ashlar dressings, and some red brick. It has plain tile roofs with overhanging eaves, and a bell supported by a timber frame in the west gable. The nave and chancel are combined as a single space. The west front features a pointed, ashlar dressed doorway with moulded jambs, a hood mould, and a plank door. The north side of the nave reveals the outline of two blocked, pointed bays of a 13th-century north arcade. A small lancet window is located in the east gable of the nave. The north side of the chancel is plain. The east end has a pointed 19th-century window with three cusped, ogee-headed lights and tracery. The south side features two pointed 19th-century windows, each with two cusped, ogee-headed lights and mouchette.

Inside, a two-bay north arcade from around 1250 is partially exposed, featuring double chamfered, pointed heads. A polygonal pier has a polygonal moulded capital, and similarly moulded respond capitals, the lower sections of which are covered by a painted panelled dado running around the nave. The 13th-century chancel arch is pointed, double chamfered, and dies into rectangular jambs. The south wall of the chancel includes a pointed, chamfered piscina. A 16th-century chair has barley sugar columns flanking a tall back, and is carved with a figure of St. Margaret. A richly carved pulpit, chest, and lectern, by J. Conway Walter, the Rector, also dating from 1891, are in a late 16th-century style. The font is composed of several medieval fragments: a base, a keystone of a late 12th-century rib vault from Kirkstead Abbey; and a bowl of Barnack stone with bulbous corners, discovered in St. Lawrence Street, Horncastle. A terracotta chrismatory is set into a pointed chamfered opening intended for a stoup in the west wall, and has Moorish origins, having been discovered in the moat of Poolham Hall. A 19th-century baptismal shell displays roundels containing scenes from the Life of Christ, and was brought back from Bethlehem in 1860. A fragmentary, free-standing stoup is positioned on the south window ledge of the nave, featuring roll mouldings on three corners. Two large, weathered tomb stones have been re-set on either side of the west doorway.