Description

SJ 7448-7548; 10/24

BETLEY C.P.,
CHURCH LANE (south-west side)

Church of St. Margaret

17.11.66

GV

I

Parish church. Core of circa 1500 with C17 and C18 additions, heavily restored
and partially rebuilt in 1842 by Scott and Moffat. Sandstone ashlar
encapsulating a timber-framed core; plain tile roof with shaped tile
bands and stone coped verge. West tower, 4-bay nave with side aisles;
2-bay chancel.

West tower. Early C18, four stages with diagonal buttresses
and moulded cornice at the base of a coped parapet with corner pilaster
strips. West door to the left with 4-centred arch. Possible former
south door, now a window, with semicircular head and ogee moulded surround.
Second stage west window of two semicircular headed lights. 4-centred
belfry windows of two trefoil-headed lights and Y-tracery with ogee-moulded
surrounds. Nave and aisles. Both aisles have slim buttresses at the
bay divisions and corners, the latter being diagonally placed; and
square-headed windows with three trefoil-headed lights, panel tracery and returned
hood moulds. Similar east and west window of two lights. Coped aisle
parapets with string course incorporating carved human heads. C19
timber-framed north and south porches, each with pointed entrance, braced king
post in the gable, and shaped barge boards. Timber-framed clerestory
with diagonal braces between windows of two trefoil-headed lights and sunken
spandrels. Chancel. 1610. Chamfered plinth and slim buttresses,
those at the corners projecting diagonally. Each side has a square
headed window of 3 trefoil-headed lights with sunken spandrels and a
hollow chamfered surround. Priest's door to the south with pointed
arch and wave moulded surround. Large 5-light pointed east window with
sub-arcuated Perpendicular tracery and hollow chamfered hood mould terminating
in carved human heads.

INTERIOR. Timber arcades of circa 1500:
octagonal columns with moulded capitals, from which spring arched braces
with ogee and quarter-round mouldings, which form the arches of the arcades
and which brace the tie beams of the main roof trusses. The columns
continue upwards to the wall plate of the clerestory showing this to
be an original feature even though it has been subject to considerable
restoration. Open timber roof with cambered and brattished tie beams
and cambered collars; raking struts extend between the two; two pairs of
moulded purlins and two sets of curved wind braces. C19 aisle roofs of
slanting tie beams on curved braces. Arch-braced collar roof of 1610
over the chancel; the braces spring from console brackets and there are
decorative pendants. Fittings. Baluster font in the chancel with
scalloped basin, probably C17. Wall panelling around the sanctuary
of similar date. C19 stalls decorated with poppy heads. Chapel in
the east bay of the north aisle with early C16 screen: Perpendicular
with linenfold panels and open arches above, and a carved frieze of vine
leaves, grapes and a continuous undulating stem. C17 hexagonal pulpit
with two tiers of panels carved with semi-circular arches springing from
Ionic columns; gadrooning around the top and guilloche ornament to the
edges. C19 pine pews. Font, probably C13: cylindrical stem with
moulded base, and quatrefoil section basin. Monuments. Ralph Egerton,
died 1610: three kneeling figures: man, woman, and female child; heraldic
shields in the background, Ionic columns to each side and a top with
central semi-circular arch. George Tollet and Elizabeth Toilet, erected
1768: architectural tablet with open semi-circular pediment, and urns
crowning the corners.

Listing NGR: SJ7555648459

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17540827

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)