Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St. Margaret is a parish church dating largely from the early 15th century, with chancel walls potentially from the 14th century. Repairs were undertaken in 1740-6, and a restoration in 1881 by A. Billings included the addition of a south porch and organ bay. The church is constructed of knapped flint with clunch dressings, with some pudding-stone in the tower, and has tiled roofs.

The building comprises a four-bay nave, a slightly lower and narrower chancel, and a small west tower. A continuous plinth runs around the base. The east window is a pointed-head design with three lights and geometrical tracery. The chancel south wall features two trefoil-headed lancets flanking a pointed-head doorway. A single similar lancet and a lean-to organ bay are located on the north wall of the chancel. The north wall of the nave has two square-headed windows; the easternmost with two multifoil-headed lights and four panels above, likely from the 15th century, and a 19th-century copy to the west. A similar 15th-century window is situated on the south wall of the nave to the east, with a matching single light to the west of the south porch. Straight buttresses run along the nave. A gabled south porch is constructed of timber on a flint and stone base, featuring an arched entrance with quatrefoils in the spandrels and decorative bargeboards. A round-headed arch with a hollow-chamfered moulded surround frames the south entrance, leading to a plank door with strap hinges. The west end of the nave features diagonal buttresses that connect with taller straight buttresses leading to the three-stage tower. The west doorway has a pointed head and hollow-chamfered jambs, positioned below a 19th-century three-light window, pointed head and geometrical tracery. One square opening is present on the second stage of the tower’s south side. String courses are located above and below the belfry stage, with an additional stone course before the belfry openings. Four chamfered mullioned openings illuminate the belfry. The parapet is restored and battlemented. A lean-to extension adjoins the north side of the tower.

Inside, a 15th-century pointed tower arch is characterized by three chamfered orders and crudely moulded capitals. A belfry opening is visible in the north spandrel. A 19th-century pointed chancel arch features colonnette responds. The nave retains a 15th-century crown post roof with chamfered beams, braces from the crown posts to the collar purlin, and braced collar beams. Ashlaring is also present. Small curved brackets extend from the walls to the straight tie beams. The chancel roof is ceiled to the east, while an exposed 15th/16th-century double collar beam roof is found to the west. Timber lintels are above the nave windows. A wall painting depicting St. Christopher on a brocade patterned ground, dating from the mid-15th century, is located on the nave’s north wall, and was restored by E.W.Tristram in 1937. A 14th-century piscina is set into the chancel south wall, showcasing a filleted roll moulding to the pointed head and a foiled basin; above the piscina stands an alabaster monument to Lady Busby, who died in 1661, with a bayleaf band around inscribed slab, an empty cartouche at the head, a skull at the base, and fruit and ribbon ornament. Early 18th-century floor slabs and an indent for a brass are found in the chancel and nave floors, alongside early 19th-century slabs along the chancel north wall. A tapestry depicting the Royal Arms of George III is mounted on the nave’s north wall, dated 1814. Fragments of 14th-century glass are found in the upper panels of the east window on the nave’s north wall. Stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops are visible.