Church Of St Margaret

SOUTHOLT TM 16 NE 4/53 Church of St Margaret 29.7.55 - II* Redundant parish church. C15 nave and porch, late C18 chancel (a brick at east end scratch-dated 1771). Restored 1907 when west end of nave was rebuilt. Nave, chancel, south porch, north vestry. Medieval work faced in knapped flint with stone admixture; stone dressings. Red brick chancel with a chequerwork in dark headers. Slated roofs to nave and porch, plaintiles to chancel. The nave side windows are in Perpendicular style, the 2 at the west end entirely renewed, the others much restored. Moulded north and south doorways, both with original doors. Rebuilt west end has gabled bell turret with a single bell. Porch facade has all-over chequer flushwork; the gable, with a canopied niche, has been rebuilt. Moulded entrance arch with hoodmould on mutilated stops. Small chancel, the 3-light east window with intersecting tracery. Interior. Original nave roof with scissor-braced coupled rafters, ashlar pieces and a moulded cornice; a boarded-in section at the east end is the remains of a canopy of honour. The west end of the roof was renewed in 1907. Chancel arch on corbel heads of a king and bishop, probably positioned here in C19. In north east nave is the blocked 4-centre arched entrance to the rood loft stair. C15 octagonal font, the bowl panels carved with the signs of the Evangelists and shield-bearing angels; lions and woodwoses against the stem. The carving has been partially renewed. The pulpit, chancel stalls and remaining nave benches date from later C19; other furnishings now removed. At west end of nave, C19 framed copies of the Commandments, Lord's Prayer and Creed. On north chancel wall, a simple tablet to Dame Ann Henniker (1792). 4 ledger slabs in sanctuary floor; matrix of brass in nave floor.

Listing NGR: TM1934168870