Church Of St Margret

TOFT MONKS POUND LANE TM 49 NW 3/99 Church of St. Margaret 5-9-60 - I

Parish church. Late C12/early C13 with C15 south porch and nave fenestration. Flint with limestone dressings. Nave plain tiled; chancel and south porch roofs lead-covered. West tower, nave, chancel, south porch. Early C13 octagonal west tower with single lancet west window. Middle stage has lancets at cardinal points alternating with round openings, those to the NE and SE blocked. Tall lancet bell openings flanked by narrower blind lancets. C15 knapped flint parapet with stepped castellation. Small lancet each side of tower in west wall of nave. C15 nave windows, the westernmost window on each side very plain and probably C19 replacements. At the south-east corner of nave, red brick blocking of old rood stair openings flanked by C19 staged buttress. C15 south porch, east and west walls rendered over and windows blocked in red brick. Gable has, above plinth, a band of flushwork panels with ogee cusped heads, all much repaired. Diagonal buttresses to gable. Limestone and flushwork decoration around arch; niche above. C13 chancel much remodelled in C19; two lancets on each side, the easternmost openings now blocked. Priest's door on south side between window openings. Diagonal buttresses to east gable; 4-light C19 east window. Massive brick and limestone buttress at north-east corner of nave. North doorway to nave set very low and blocked in red brick. Interior: arch-braced porch roof with head carvings on wallpost ends. Good C15 nave roof, much renewed: roll- moulded purlins and arch-braced principal rafters, carved bosses at intersections; roll-moulded ridge with pendants; two tiers of castellation to cornice. Elaborately-moulded tie beam at west end, originally to support font cover. Tower arch pointed, with plain imposts. Above the tower arch, a semicircular-headed doorway with another above it now cut by the nave roof. Smaller blind recess immediately north of lower doorway; deep splayed reveals to lancets in west wall. These high level openings suggest the existence of a western gallery. C13 chancel arch with deeply-cut hood mould, engaged shafts and polygonal capitals. C17 memorial slabs in chancel floor. In the north-east corner of chancel, a good wall monument to John Bayspoole (d.1653) and to Rector John Lodington (d.1789). Piscina, much restored, in south-east corner. Font C15, octagonal; four lions around stem, angel corbels below bowl defaced, figures around bowl. C17 font cover.

Listing NGR: TM4263395268