Church Of St Margaret

Church of St. Margaret, Luddington

A medieval parish church dating from the 13th to 15th centuries, with significant Victorian restoration. The chancel was rebuilt in 1875 by R.H. Carpenter, and the spire underwent restoration in the late 19th century.

The church is built of coursed limestone rubble with cobbles, squared coursed limestone and limestone ashlar, with lead and Collyweston slate roofs. It comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch and west tower.

The chancel's south elevation displays a two-window range with 2-light windows to the left and a single lancet to the right, with a central priest door. All openings feature hood moulds with carved label stops. A corbel table supports a plain ashlar parapet, with a gargoyle to the left of centre and a panelled pinnacle at the south-east corner. A single-stage buttress stands at the far right, with the steeply pitched roof set back behind the parapet. The 3-light east window contains quatrefoils and trefoil work, flanked by two-stage gabled buttresses. The north elevation presents a three-window range of lancets, with a similar parapet featuring a gargoyle to the right and a single-stage buttress at the far left.

The south aisle consists of three bays with a two-window range of 3-light windows featuring hollow reveals and four-centred arch heads, positioned at the far left and right. Two-stage buttresses separate the bays, with a lean-to roof. An ashlar parapet with roll moulding is punctuated by four gargoyles at mid-points and corners. The 3-light east and west windows match the aisle window design.

The central Perpendicular porch has an ashlar facade. Its outer doorway features a four-centred arch head with roll mouldings, semi-circular responds, hood mould and carved label stops, while the inner doorway has a four-centred arch head with continuous roll mouldings. Two-stage clasping buttresses occupy the corners, with return walls containing single-light square-head windows. The shallow gabled roof has a roll-moulded parapet with gargoyles at corners and mid-points, and a finial at the apex.

The north elevation of the nave comprises four bays with a two-window range of tall 3-light windows featuring hollow reveals and segmental heads, arranged alternately. A Perpendicular priest door with a four-centred arch head and continuous roll mouldings stands in the bay to the right of centre. Two-stage buttresses separate the bays, and the bay at the far left contains a shallow lean-to projection with a stone slab roof and a small quatrefoil window. The shallow gabled roof mirrors the porch design. The south nave clerestory presents a three-window range of 2-light windows with four-centred arch heads, with a similar parapet to the north side.

The west tower dates to the 13th century and rises four and a half stages. Shallow ashlar pilasters occupy the corners, with a square-head west window in the second stage. The lower part of the fourth stage is subdivided by a plain string course to form a half-stage. The upper stage displays two-light bell-chamber openings with Y-tracery on each face. A short ashlar broach spire with one tier of lucarnes crowns the tower.

Internally, the three-bay nave arcade to the south aisle features double-chamfered Perpendicular arches with chamfered projections to nave and aisle, and no capitals. Semi-circular responds with polygonal capitals frame each opening. The double-chamfered chancel arch is similar in style. A tall single-chamfered tower arch with plain responds opens to the west. A four-centred arch doorway to the left of the pulpit provides access to the roof loft stair. The roof structures are 19th-century work, though some medieval corbels survive in the nave and aisle. Two panels of 13th-century diapering have been reset in the north wall of the chancel. Sixteenth-century bench ends in the nave and aisle feature linenfold panelling, probably restored in the 19th century. An octagonal font is present. Stained glass includes fragments of 15th-century canopy work in the east window of the south aisle and the north-east window of the nave. A mid-19th-century drawing by George Clarke depicts the spire capped with a pyramid roof.