Church Of St Margarets (Church Of England)

The Church of St Margarets, a Church of England building, is located in St Margarets village. It features Norman elements but was largely rebuilt around 1316 for Sir William Goldington's collegiate foundation, which included a charity with five chaplains. This foundation was dissolved in 1431, and the church was then appropriated to the Priory of Elsing Spittle in London. The church's current appearance dates from around 1820, as indicated by the date on the bell, and it underwent restoration in 1903 for Septumius Croft of St Margaretsbury, with further repairs in 1935 by H A Newton.

Constructed from flint rubble with stone dressings, the church has a steep old red tile roof and a small octagonal wooden cupola at the west end. It is a simple rectangular structure consisting of a nave and chancel with no external division. There are two small gabled stucco extensions from the early 19th century on the north side, which now serve as a vestry and a stair-hall leading to the west gallery. The building features diagonal corner buttresses with two offsets and a blocked arcade of the north aisle, which is visible on the north side. The north aisle includes 18th-century pointed wooden windows with leaded glazing and iron casements. Just east of the south door, there is a small round-headed Norman window with an incised billet pattern in the jambs. The south door is from the 14th century, and the south wall has two-light windows, while the east window is a four-light example with early Decorated style flowing tracery, flanked inside by foliated ogee-headed niches and a piscina in the south chancel window.

Inside, there is a noticeable change in the south wall from the old nave to the wider chancel. The nave features a two-bay crown-post collar purlin roof, with octagonal crown-posts that have moulded caps and bases. The roof includes four-way bracing in one crown-post but only braces to the collar purlin in the other two. The structure also has cambered moulded tie-beams and arched braces from wall posts on carved stone corbels. The chancel contains box pews and two hatchments.