Church Of St Margaret

A parish church of the 13th century and late 14th to 15th centuries, with a significant addition of 1850 by Hakewill and sanctuary decoration of 1898 by Comper.

The church comprises a nave and chancel built of ragstone rubble, with a tower and north aisle of roughly-coursed stone. Plain tile roofs cover the main structure, while the spire is shingled with wood. The building sits on a west tower, has a south porch, and a north vestry, with a north aisle extending from the main body.

The west tower dates to the late 14th or early 15th century. It is two-staged, raised on a chamfered stone plinth and battlemented above a chamfered string course. An octagonal spire with a weathervane crowns the tower. A rectilinear south-east stair turret becomes polygonal above the belfry, rising above the tower and similarly battlemented. The belfry windows contain two trefoil-headed lights with squared moulded hoodmoulds. A similar west window sits towards the base of the upper stage, while a larger west window to the lower stage has two cinquefoil-headed lights with a cambered head and moulded hoodmould. A small chamfered pointed-arched west doorway, fitted with a 19th-century moulded hoodmould, provides entry.

The nave originates from the late 12th or 13th century. It displays tufa quoins to the west, possibly reused material. The west end of the nave overlaps the tower stair turret, and there is no plinth. A 19th-century lancet sits to the west of the porch, with two further 19th-century windows to the east. A small, low-set 14th-century cinquefoiled and ogee-headed light sits towards the east end.

The south porch dates to the late 14th or early 15th century and is built of large, evenly-coursed stone blocks. It has a low chamfered stone plinth. Small chamfered rectangular lights open to east and west. The roof comprises morticed collars with ashlar pieces and a moulded wooden cornice. Continuous stone benches run along each side. The outer doorway is pointed-arched with a moulded hoodmould, while the inner doorway is broad and pointed-arched with hollow-chamfered detailing and broach stops, fitted with a boarded door.

The chancel dates to the late 12th or 13th century. Tufa quoins appear to north and south, and there is no plinth. The roof was replaced in the 19th century with a slightly higher ridge than the nave. A low rectangular south light sits towards the west end, with a larger two-light 19th-century south window beside a blocked window marked by straight tufa jambs. Three small, widely-spaced, round-headed east lancets with tufa jambs light the east end, the central lancet positioned higher within the gable. A 14th-century north window displays two ogee-headed trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in an ogival frame, its roll-and-fillet hoodmould restored with grotesque heads to the label stops.

The 19th-century vestry is built of coursed stone, set low with a coped north gable.

The north aisle, added in 1850 by Hakewill, is low-eaved to the north. Two north buttresses support it. An east window contains three stepped lancets, while three trefoil-headed north lights and a two-light west window provide further illumination.

The interior preserves significant medieval detail. The nave structure includes a three-bay 19th-century north arcade in 13th-century style. A late 14th or early 15th-century chancel arch is pointed and doubly hollow-chamfered, with attached semi-circular columns to each side, each with moulded capital and base. The tower arch is tall and doubly plain-chamfered without imposts. A round-headed rere-arch of a splayed window to the south side of the west gable end of the nave is blocked by the tower.

The nave roof is medieval, with common rafters, scissor-braces trenched past high collars, ashlar pieces, and a central tie-beam. The chancel roof is 19th-century, featuring arch-braced collars with a collar purlin and curved ashlar pieces.

The church contains several notable fittings. An octagonal font has a chamfered base to the bowl and tooled stone borders, set on a later stem. A poor box takes the form of a large turned 17th-century newel with a square top.

The stalls are of particular importance, probably German in origin and dating to circa 1300. Three wooden stall ends, approximately 7 feet high, feature free-standing sculpture above solid panelled bases. One double stall depicts St Michael slaying the devil and Christ in limbo. A row of four seats includes a stall end carved with Samson and the lion. Carved ends to armrests of each seat and short shafts with crocketed capitals sit beneath the feet of each figure. The bull of St Luke, crouched between scrolls, appears on a former intermediate stall end now incorporated into a reading desk. Poppyheads ornament the ends of two stall fronts.

Wall-painting by Comper decorates the chancel. A stencilled pattern of intertwined thorns and wreaths adorns the splays of each east window, with starred heavens depicted on the arch soffits. A gilded relief of the Nativity appears between the lower windows.