Somerton

St Margaret, Somerton

St Margaret is one of the highest churches in Suffolk - geographically speaking, not ecclesiastically. There are two approaches to the village; either up a long, winding, steep lane from Hartest, or another long, winding, steep lane from the Hawkedon road. This second approach, in particular, is very unlike any other part of Suffolk; looking back at the broad hills and torrent of the river, I was put in mind of Northumberland.

The bungalows and cottages soon restore a sense of the familiar. The village is known as Upper Somerton, presumably to distinguish it from the cluster of houses around Somerton Hall at the bottom of the hill. It is, of course, not be confused with Sotherton, 30 miles away in east Suffolk. The keyholder (listed on the church sign) can be found at a nearby cottage. As you approach the church from the east up the churchyard path, you will be forgiven for thinking that here is a major Victorian reconstruction, with a new nave put alongside the old one, turning it into a north aisle, as at St Mary at Stoke, Ipswich. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Seeing double at Somerton - but all is not as it seems.

As one continues up the path to the south of the church (and to the left of the picture above), it becomes clear that this church has what appears to be a second, southern, chancel beside the first. It is a chapel, but it is so unfamiliar one needs to take it in.

A quick tour of the outside will show you a blocked Norman north door in the nave, and the internal arcades are late 13th century. This is an old church. There seems to be the remains of the base of an arch in the extreme south-east corner of the nave. Was a south aisle planned and never built? It would have made sense. Stepping through into the chancel (there is no arch), one sees the south chapel and its juxtaposition with the chancel.

The east end. The south chapel lies through the arcade. Note the squint.

Mortlock notes the 13th century shafts of earlier windows either side of both east windows, so this chapel is very old. Between them, there is a curious squint with a piscina drain inside it - presumably to serve both altars, although there is another piscina in the main chancel just to the left of it, within an arched opening.

The view of the main altar from the chapel through the squint (a board covers the piscina).

There is yet another piscina in the south wall of the south chapel.

Something similar to this arrangement of a chapel beside the chancel exists nearby at Boxted, where the Poley family built an outrageously magnificent north chapel in the eighteenth century. It's position was probably inspired by this one.

The dedication of this church is usually given in textbooks as All Saints, but I am assured that it is officially St Margaret.

A few months after visiting this church, I happened to meet the vicar into whose benefice Somerton falls. It is the smallest of the 5 churches he serves, and I asked him if people were prepared to travel to other churches in the benefice to attend services.

He told me that, generally speaking, they weren't, but that for the people of Somerton, with no school, no shop, no pub and no post office, the church was an enduring symbol of their community. "The church and the telephone box are all they have left", he said.

Pause for dramatic effect. "Even though they increasingly use neither."

St Margaret, Somerton, can be found a mile or so west of Hartest off the B1066 Bury to Glemsford road. A keyholder is situated nearby.