The
poster on the door is for the Historic Churches
Trust, because they got a grant from it. But the
door was locked, which is a bit naughty. The
recesses either side of the door are curious,
aren't they.
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The payoff for this is usually
a large amount of undistinguished development,
and there is certainly some of this. But St
Margaret is in a delightful spot, just off the
village high street in a cluster of old cottages.
At first sight, the church
looks ancient, and the and the low pyramid-capped
tower reminded me rather of Saxon Thornham
Parva.
But in fact, this is more of a Bawdsey, a relatively recent 15th century
perpendicular affair cut down to size, probably
in the 19th century. An action like this is
usually a sign that a place fell on hard times
after medieval prosperity.
The body of the church is
slightly older than the tower; and, although the
Victorians were busy here, Mortlock thought the 19th century windows were
probably reproductions of what had been here
before.
The church is pleasingly
irregular, and seems to slope up towards the
east. I am sure that the buttresses on the south
side are not parallel.
I also rely on Mortlock for the
interior, because the church was locked;
Whatfield did not consider an open church to be
an act of witness. He tells me that I'll find
still a flavour of the 18th century, with a
balcony and memorials; the benches are mostly
Victorian, but one at least dates from 1589, when
John Wilson, presumably the churchwarden, saw fit
to have his name engraved upon it.
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