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I must confess that I have
never visited this church on a sunny day.
This was the third time I had cycled my
way around the Saints, and as on the two
previous occasions the sky darkened as I
approached. St Margaret is one of just
three proper villages in the twelve
parishes of the Saints, and my heart sunk
as I got closer to it, because I was
passed by several cars with wedding
ribbons on their bonnets - was I about to
be thwarted in my attempt to visit the
church? But as it turned out, they were
on their way to a reception at the grand
St Peter's Hall, which sits just outside
the village. I
made my way up the graveyard path as the
first drops began to fall. The round tower
looks rather shabby; and thereby hangs a
tale. One of the many state fund-holding
bodies to which churches may apply for
grants to finance repairs is English
Heritage. However, taking the money from
them is conditional on them being given a
role in future decisions about the
building.
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Here,
English Heritage said that the round tower should
be rendered; one of their so-called experts
insisted that flint towers had originally been
finished like this. As the guide to the church
observes, complaints poured in from local people
and specialist historians alike. The historians
called it an act of vandalism; the locals who had
to help fund the project felt, not unreasonably,
that their money was being wasted. After many
protests, English Heritage agreed that they had
been wrong, and offered to remove the dubious
grey cement and repoint the tower to its original
form at no cost to the parish. The parish, after
much heart-searching, declined the offer, feeling
that the £20,000 of public money required could
be better spent elsewhere. The guide concludes
that the white tower remains, a unique
symbol, to remind us all of the need for more
study, more co-operation and a sharing of
knowledge, leading, hopefully, to a greater
awareness and more careful restoration of our
ancient churches. This indictment of English
Heritage is all the more damning, of course, for
being so carefully understated.
The
tower is one of Suffolk's earliest, and the round
windows are still visible. There are, apparently,
four more blocked ones in the belfry stage. The
whole thing probably dates from about AD1000.
There is a curious archway to the priest door in
the south wall of the chancel which is probably
an example of 18th Century 'Gothick', one of
those fancies beloved of antiquarian gentlemen of
the period, and although wholly ignorant of
proper ecclesiological forms, it is a rare thing
in Suffolk, and rather lovely too.
The interior is entirely
restored, and if it is not particularly
interesting, it is pleasing. The brick
floor and the large windows create a
devotional atmosphere full of light and
space. The wooden facing of the chancel ceiling is
pleasant enough, but I couldn't help
noticing that Mortlock found it painted
brightly in the early 1980s. Was English
Heritage responsible for this
'historically correct' piece of vandalism
as well? The one great historical
survival here is the set of Royal Arms to
Queen Anne with their Semper Eadem
legend, and the date 1704.
Most of the Saints have
graveyards which are designated wildlife
areas. One feature I particularly liked
here at St Margaret was the list in the
porch of butterflies and birds that had
been seen in the churchyard. Some eight
years after my last visit, I was pleased
to see that this list was still being
updated, and impressed by how many
species are listed on it. This is a
hedged oasis full of trees, set in the
bleakness of the flat fields. Poor
things, it must be the only cover they
can get.
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