Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret is a parish church primarily dating to the late 15th century, with a west tower of the early 14th century. It is located in Lowestoft. The south aisle was rebuilt in 1870 by J.L. Clemence and restored in 1899 by Bodley. The church is constructed of flint with ashlar dressings, and has a roof that is not visible.

The west tower is three-stage and has diagonal buttresses, a two-light Y-tracery west window, a lancet to the ringing chamber, and two two-light Y-tracery belfry windows. It is topped by a crenellated flushwork parapet and a needle spire of 1954, replacing a spire of 1483. The nave aisles have three-light Perpendicular windows divided by stepped flushwork buttresses, with four-light windows to the east and west ends. The clerestory has two-light cusped windows. The chancel has a tall three-light transomed window to the north and south, and a five-light east window. Angle buttresses define the corners of the aisles and chancel. A two-story south porch is entered through a moulded archway and has flushwork panelling to its south face, with a two-light upper-floor window. A stair tower to the west also features flushwork panelling. The porch’s interior features a tierceron rib vault with bosses.

Inside, the nave arcade consists of six bays with lozenge piers on polygonal bases, supporting wave-moulded arches. The nave has a continuous crested tie beam roof with false hammerbeams, decorated with gilded angels bearing inscriptions, all restored during the 1899 works. There is a chamfered and hollow-moulded tower arch; a chancel arch is absent. A C15 octagonal font has standing figures in cusped niches in the stem, with paired standing saints on each bowl panel. A font cover dates from 1940. Brasses depicting a man and his wife, dating from around 1540, are located in the south aisle, depicting them in civilian dress. Two skeleton brasses, from the early 16th century, are also in the south aisle. The chancel has bench sedilia beneath a fleuron cornice, and an ogeed piscina with a square hood and carved spandrels. A wall monument in the south-east chapel commemorates Captain Utber, who commanded the frigate Guernsey in 1665 and was killed engaging Dutch and Danish fleets off Norway. The east window contains glass by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, dating from 1891.