Church Of St Margaret

Church of St. Margaret

The Church of St. Margaret at Shottisham is an Early 14th-century church substantially altered in the 16th century and around 1867 by G. C. Hakewill. The building is constructed of coursed and random rubble flint with ashlar dressings and a plain tile roof.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with north aisle, chancel, and south-western porch.

The west tower has a slightly projecting plinth with ashlar offset to its top and diagonal buttresses. The west front displays a central ground floor doorway with double hollow-chamfered ashlar surround and hoodmould. Above this is a two-light window with 19th-century Decorated tracery and hollow-chamfered surround. The wall above features alternating ashlar voussoirs and panels of knapped flints with a deep keystone decorated with flushwork cross. A lancet window sits above this. An ashlar band marks the sill level of the belfry opening, which has an ashlar surround and Perpendicular 19th-century two-light tracery with trefoil heads to the lights and hoodmould. A deep string course with animal heads and square flowers runs above at the lower level of the parapet, which is battlemented with ashlar coping. The north and south faces are similar in design, though the north has no lower doorway or window. The south face features a projecting staircase turret with canted angle that rises to the level of the lancet. An angle buttress appears at the extreme right. The east face shows scars indicating the original steeper roof pitch and contains a similar belfry opening to the other sides.

The nave's south face contains a 19th-century porch at left of centre with moulded ashlar arch to gabled front and paired lancets to the flanks. To its left is a lancet window with 19th-century chamfered surround, and to its right are two further 19th-century windows: a lancet with ashlar surround and a two-light Decorated window. The north face features a lean-to aisle of 1868 with catslide roof continuing the line of the nave roof. The north face of the aisle has no windows, but the east side wall contains a triple-lancet, and the west side has a low window of four lancet lights with trefoils and octofoil to apex.

The chancel sits at a lower ridge level than the nave. Its south face displays a Decorated lancet window at left with cinquefoil head, chamfered surround and hoodmould. The lower body of this window between deep transom and sill is now bricked up with red bricks but may previously have been shuttered as a sanctus window. A priest's door with chamfered ashlar surround stands to the right, followed by a two-light 19th-century window of plate tracery. The east face was rebuilt around 1867 with a triple-lancet and hexafoil within a chamfered circle to gable above. The north face contains a blocked Perpendicular window of two lights with cinquefoil heads.

Interior

The nave roof was adapted around 1867 when it was lowered by approximately six feet. A moulded wooden cornice supports three-quarter-circular wall posts with moulded caps and bases, which connect with the principals and support arched braces connecting to collar beams. The collar beams contain mortice holes indicating a possible earlier roof form or flat ceiling formerly at this level. Above the collar beams are cusped arch braces connected to a yolk, from which further cusped arch braces rise to the ridge. Arched wind-braces running longitudinally between wall posts form alternating steep and shallow arches, connecting at apexes to a staggered purlin. A similar staggered purlin sits above with cusped wind braces beneath, their staggered springing creating uniform curvature. The nave contains a set of early to mid-19th-century pews with billet-moulded enrichment to their tops.

A 13th-century font of octagonal form features two slightly recessed arches to each face of the bowl, with a central octagonal shaft surrounded by 19th-century colonettes at the angles in different coloured marble. A chamfered step, also possibly 13th-century, supports the font.

An arcade of four arches opens to the northern aisle, with shafts of quatrefoil section having moulded bases and caps. A rood loft staircase is set within the thickness of the southern wall, rising from the lowered sill of the south-eastern nave window. It comprises seven steps with a quarter-turn, with doorways having flattened arches to upper and lower levels. Beneath the stairs is a recess for stoup or piscina, also with flattened arch.

The chancel roof comprises common rafters with collars and angle braces with planked boarding before ashlar posts. The south window features a lowered sedilia-sill with panels of cusped tracery to the window reveals. The tower and chancel arches are similar, both having hollow-chamfered outer arches from the sides of which spring heavy double-chamfered inner arches.