Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret is a redundant parish church located in Southolt, dating from the 15th century with a porch and nave, and a late 18th-century chancel, which has a brick at the east end that is scratch-dated 1771. The church was restored in 1907 when the west end of the nave was rebuilt. It comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, and north vestry. The medieval parts are faced in knapped flint with stone admixture and feature stone dressings, while the chancel is made of red brick with a chequerwork pattern in dark headers. The roofs of the nave and porch are slated, and the chancel has plain tiles. The nave's side windows are in the Perpendicular style, with the two at the west end entirely renewed and the others much restored. The north and south doorways are moulded and retain their original doors. The rebuilt west end includes a gabled bell turret with a single bell. The porch facade features all-over chequer flushwork, and the gable, which has a canopied niche, has been rebuilt. The entrance arch is moulded with a hoodmould on mutilated stops. The small chancel has a three-light east window with intersecting tracery.

Inside, the original nave roof features scissor-braced coupled rafters, ashlar pieces, and a moulded cornice, with a boarded-in section at the east end that is the remains of a canopy of honour; the west end of the roof was renewed in 1907. The chancel arch rests on corbel heads depicting a king and bishop, likely added in the 19th century. In the northeast nave, there is a blocked four-centre arched entrance to the rood loft stair. The 15th-century octagonal font has a bowl carved with the signs of the Evangelists and shield-bearing angels, with lions and woodwoses on the stem; the carving has been partially renewed. The pulpit, chancel stalls, and remaining nave benches date from the later 19th century, while other furnishings have been removed. At the west end of the nave, there are 19th-century framed copies of the Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and Creed. On the north chancel wall, there is a simple tablet dedicated to Dame Ann Henniker from 1792, and there are four ledger slabs in the sanctuary floor, along with a matrix of brass in the nave floor.