e-mail: simon@suffolkchurches.co.uk
St Margaret, Shottisham
This is a charming
19th century rebuild, like its near neighbours Alderton and Sutton. However, unlike those two,
there is little about it to be said. The restoring
architect was Edward Hakewill, who was also responsible
for Rushmere St Andrew, the Victorian work of which
has some superficial internal similarities with this
church. The Hakewill signature of a north aisle slopes
down to within 5 feet of the ground, giving it a rather
dark ambience, much in the manner of his north aisle
at Rushmere, before the 1960s transformation.
The medieval tower is rather attractive, being elegant, and its flintiness softened by the intermingling of septaria. The best feature of the inside is a fine roodloft stair set into a window, as at Whepstead and Barningham. This one has a curious piscina at its foot, to serve a nave altar. I arrived on a stormy May afternoon, and a churchwarden was dodging the downpours, cutting the grass. He explained, as he took shelter in the church with me, that they always left the wild flowers to seed before cutting - last year, sixty varieties were found in the churchyard. Much of the work of Hakewill's time has now been renewed, he explained; new ceiling and floor boards in particular. The floorboards benath the organ had rotted away to such an extent that it was literally hanging off its pipes. All this has been dealt with, and the next project is a flagpole to commemorate the Millennium. A small ambition, perhaps, but this is a tiny village, in a joint parish with Sutton. And it is a rather lovely village, too, despite the traffic on the road between Melton and Bawdsey. St Margaret on its hill overlooks the little square with its pretty pub. All pleasant enough. Curiously, the dedication of this church was also given in error to the church at Chattisham, on the other side of Ipswich, after 18th century antiquarians confused them; the CofE revival of dedications in the 19th century failed to rectify this mistake. |
