Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret is a mainly 14th-century parish church located on the High Street in Abbotsley. It includes a west tower, nave, and north and south aisles. The chancel, north vestry, and north porch were added in 1861 by George Gilbert Scott. A noteworthy feature is the 14th-century tomb recess within the south aisle.

The west tower, likely dating back to the late 14th or 15th century, is constructed primarily of pebble stone with some sandstone and Barnack stone. It is embattled with a splayed plinth and four-stage set-back buttressing, incorporating a newel staircase in the southwest angle. Gargoyles depicting beasts adorn the main cornice, and figureheads representing kings (believed to be Macbeth, Malcolm, Harold, and William – with the southern figures from the 16th century and the northern figures from the 19th or 20th centuries) are positioned on the parapet at each corner. A 19th-century west doorway, built of Ketton stone, features its original clunch label stops. The 15th-century west window has three lights with vertical tracery. The bell stage has two cinquefoil openings within four-centered heads and a label on each side of the tower.

The nave is largely of pebble stone, with a steeply pitched tiled roof. A late 14th-century clerestory on each side features five windows, each with two trefoil lights in a square head. The 14th-century south aisle has four 20th-century windows of Wheldon stone, each with two lights, flowing tracery, and a two-centered arch. A 14th-century south doorway has two chamfered orders. The east window of the south aisle has three cinquefoil lights within a four-centered head and distinctive mask stops. The north aisle is similarly designed. The chancel and north vestry are of pebble stone with a tiled roof and Ketton stone surrounds to the windows.

Inside, the north arcade consists of four bays with two-centered arches, two chamfered orders on columns with quatrefoil sections, small rolls to the angles, and moulded capitals and bases. The south arcade has four bays with similar arches on octagonal columns and capitals. The 19th or 20th-century nave roof rests on 15th-century corbels, some carved with detail. The gable end of the original nave roof is visible in the tower’s east wall. A fine 14th-century tomb recess is located in the south aisle. It has a moulded, cinquefoiled ogee head decorated with tendrils, foliate ornament, and flanked by buttresses surmounted by crocketed pinnacles carved with paterae. Two coats of arms of Tilly are displayed above the ogee arch. A 13th-century font with a tapering octagonal limestone bowl on an octagonal base is also present. The north aisle’s roof retains some 15th-century moulded tie beams, and two 15th-century brackets carved with angels are built into the east wall. A 16th-century oak screen with traceried heads and closed lower panels originally stood beneath the tower arch but was moved to the chancel arch.