Church Of St Margaret

The Church of St Margaret is a complex building with origins in the 12th century, incorporating a 14th-century nave, a 15th-century porch and tower rebuilt in 1699, and a substantial restoration and enlargement in 1873 that added a new aisle and a larger chancel. It is constructed of galleted Bargate and sandstone, with some coursed stone in the tower, and the majority of the walls are of rubble. The roofs are covered in Horsham slabs and feature ridge cresting.

The church consists of a nave and chancel facing east, a south porch, a west tower, and a north aisle with a vestry attached. The two-stage tower has angle buttresses and a battlemented parapet. The lower stage features paired, single-light round-head lancet windows on the south and west faces, with louvres to the upper stage. A further slit lancet is present on the north face of the upper stage. The south side of the church displays two 19th-century Decorated style windows alongside a restored 16th-century two-light window with a flat head. The chancel has alternating offset buttresses and re-cut Decorated style windows. The east end includes diagonal buttresses and a three-light 19th-century window with a moulded surround. The vestry has a shouldered head with foiled lancet fenestration and an offset ridge stack. The north side features two Decorated style 19th-century windows alternating with buttresses, and a larger three-light window and roundel window at the west end of the north aisle.

The restored, gabled timber-framed porch to the south sits on a brick plinth with herringbone brick infill and turned baluster rails. It contains a braced arched entrance and has a braced crown-post roof. Inside, the tower has a stone flagged floor with pointed arches to the pier supports. The nave retains 14th-century wall plates but features a later tall, thin crown-post roof with a central collar moulding to the crown posts, which rest on square plinths and are braced in both directions. The chancel has a two-bay arrangement with bays mirroring those in the nave. An octagonal pier arcade separates the nave and north aisle, with chamfered, two-step moulded arches and human head corbels to the hood mouldings. The fittings are largely 19th-century, including an octagonal stone font on a central stem, an organ by Holcroft, and a reredos by Messrs Pavell, designed by Harry Burrow. The church is also reputedly home to the oldest hanging peal of bells, cast by Richard Phelps of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.