Southolt: St Margaret
Overview
Grid reference: TM 193 688
The nave is for the most part Perpendicular, as is the south porch; the west wall is of c.1880, in place of a tower which fell in the eighteenth century. The chancel appears to be seventeenth-century, much restored and re-roofed in 1907. No architect is named for any of the more recent work.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
four-bay aisleless nave with west bell-cote, south porch and north vestry; chancel.
Dimensions:
nave: 43 feet by 19 feet; chancel: 20 feet by 15 feet.
Description of Archaeology and History
The nave is for the most part Perpendicular, as is the south porch; the west wall is of c.1880, in place of a tower which fell in the eighteenth century. The chancel appears to be seventeenth-century, much restored and re-roofed in 1907. No architect is named for any of the more recent work.
Exterior Description
The wall of the nave and south porch are faced with flint and have stone dressings; the chancel and north vestry are of brick. The roofs of the nave, porch and vestry are slated and the chancel is covered with machine-made tiles.
The basic structure of the nave is Perpendicular, much restored. The four windows in the two eastern bays (two on the north and two on the south) are of three ogee-headed lights with panel tracery above under four-centred arches. The bays are divided by buttresses. The south porch has mediaeval side walls with two-light windows and a south face flanked by diagonal buttresses and faced with squared flints and stones in a chequer pattern. Above the arched doorway, the small statue niche and the gable are nineteenth-century, but doubtless to the mediaeval design. The ogee-headed niche has lost its statue, and has female heads at the label-stops.
The west bay of the nave is entirely nineteenth-century, with tall two-light windows in the north and south walls and diagonal butresses at the corners. A frieze of flushwork panels runs above the plinth and also around the two buttresses which flank the west window: these, after three off-sets and another parel of flushwork, support an arch over which is the bell-cote containing a single bell.
The north vestry was originally built as a schoolroom, probably in the early nineteenth-century. It has a low-pitched roof and the big rectangular window in the west wall has a dripstone, a nod at Tudor ' which was often regarded at the time as suitable for educational establishments.
The chancel is all of brick, with a blind north wall and a clear glazed window with minimal intersecting tracery in the east wall.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1903
A single light in the chancel dates from 1903, and has an odd design of white grapes, their tendrils entwining a red cross.
Stained Glass
Two roundels of mediaeval fragments, indecipherable, in north east nave window.
Stained Glass
15th Century
Jumble of mediaeval fragments in top tracery lights of nave south east window, dating from the fifteenth-century.
Stained Glass
c.1890
The single-light west window has a figure of St. Margaret with blood red dragon, c. 1890.
Interior
Interior Description
The floor in the church is of red and black quarries and the pews follow a mediaeval pattern with slender necks and small poppyheads. The roof stands above moulded wallplates, the nineteenth-century west bay continuing the pattern. The rafters and struts, placed close together, appear to have been boarded, and would make a seven-faced vault. The east bay is still boarded for a width of about five feet to form a canopy over the rood, but ribs and ornament, like the rood itself, have now disappeared. The opening to the rood stair has been blocked, but is still visible behind the pulpit on the north side of the chancel arch.
The wide chancel arch is carried on half- octagonal imposts and is moulded; the label stops are carved as heads of a king and a bishop. The south door is blocked and there is an entrance to a vault beneath on the north side.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
The Altar is a Stuart table with turned legs and a decorated front frieze.
Rail
Late nineteenth-century communion rails with turned uprights of seventeenth- century design.
Pulpit
The Pulpit is a robust nineteenth-century design of oak, rectangular with panels traceried with blind ogee arches.
Font (object)
15th Century
The Font is octagonal, with the Symbols of the Four Evangelists round the bowl alternating with angels bearing shields.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TM 193 688
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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