Church Of St Maragret

The Church of St. Margaret is a parish church dating back to the 13th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 14th, 15th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and features slate, plain tiled, and lead roofs. The church comprises a nave with a western bell-cote and clerestory, a north aisle, a chancel, and a south porch.

The west front is divided into three stages, featuring a roll-moulded plinth, two string courses, and a 13th-century stone-coped gable bell-cote supported by a large central buttress. The north aisle, with a slate roof, has two bays defined by three stepped buttresses. It incorporates two 14th-century two-light windows with reticulated tracery, which were recut in the 19th century. The east aisle window is a 19th-century reconstruction of a 14th-century two-light Y-traceried window. The north clerestory has a plain moulded parapet concealing a lead roof. Two 15th-century three-light windows with depressed arch heads and hood moulds are also present.

The ashlar chancel, partly rebuilt in the 19th century, has a plain tiled roof, a stone-coped gable with a cross fleury, and an inscribed quoin on the east end ("Richard Torry 1739"), referencing a monument inside. The east end has a 14th-century three-light window, and the south side has a small 15th-century window with a flat head and a stepped buttress. The south sides of the chancel and nave are in coursed limestone rubble, with a string course marking the line of a former south aisle. Within the blocked arcade and south chapel arch are two reused early 14th-century two-light windows, one with Y tracery and the other with flowing tracery. The south porch, likely reset in the 18th century, has a stone-coped gable with a cross fleury and a simple pointed opening. The 13th-century south doorway has been reset in the blocked west arcade.

Inside, the 13th-century three-bay north arcade features a quatrefoil pier with fillets and an octofoil pier with a waterleaf capital. The west respond is semi-octagonal and inscribed with “a b c d e f g.” The arches are double splayed. The scar of an earlier nave roof is visible at the west end. The 13th-century chancel arch has fine bowtell moulding, and the imposts extend to form a moulded string course which links with the nave arcade imposts. The nave roof is 17th century with massive cross beams and purlins. Fittings and pews are all 19th century. A plain 12th/13th century circular tub font sits on an octagonal base. Monuments include a tablet decorated with angels and scrolls to Alice Torry and Richard Torry (died 1739), and an inscribed grave slab to Ann Towne (died 1630).