Description

HALES CHURCH LANE,
TM 39 NE South side

6/22 Church of St. Margaret
5.9.60
- I

Former parish church, now in the care of the Redundant Churches Fund. Fabric
of C12 remains almost intact with some C13 and C14 fenestration. Flint with
brick and conglomerate, partly rendered. Limestone dressing. Nave and chancel
thatched: roof hipped over east end. West tower, nave, apsidal chancel.
Round west tower, possibly C11, with C14 bell-openings. Single light west
window with raised cill. Later tower parapet with chequerwork of brick, flint
and limestone. Fine C12 south door with two orders of shafts with cushion
capitals, arch with zigzag, billet and roll mouldings. In the south wall
of the nave two 2-light windows with 'Y' tracery, the western window with
cusping. Between the windows an original window opening, now blocked, with
engaged shafts and capitals and roll moulded semicircular arch; the cill
is cut by a later lancet, now blocked with red brick. Chancel has arcading
of pairs of semicircular headed recesses divided by pilaster buttresses with
nook shafts in their bases. Arcading pierced by C13 lancets. Decorative
cill-band below arcading. 2-light east window with 'Y' tracery under a
shallow arch. The eastern-most north nave window has been blocked in brick
with a later rood stair slit window inserted, now also blocked. Very fine
and ornate north doorway, C12 with two orders of shafts, their capitals
decorated with stars and volutes, hood mould with wheel motif and arches with
zigzag, bobbin and dentil decoration. Interior: nave roof C19 boarded waggon
type; plain plaster vault over chancel. Chancel arch with double chamfer.
Base of C15 screen with some colour remaining. Figure niches with pedestals
flanking east window. In north wall of chancel, a square aumbry recess with
shelf. Rood stair in north-east corner of nave, four centred arched head
to opening. Two memorial slabs in chancel floor, to Peter Lawes (d.1722)
and a C17 slab to Mary Lawes. C18 gallery at west end of nave. Semicircular
tower arch with castellated imposts. Blocked circular north and south windows
in tower lower stage, their splayed reveals showing traces of basketframing.
C15 octagonal font with four lions around the stem, the bowl supported
on angel-corbels; alternating roses and angels bearing shields in panels
of bowl. C17 font cover of open ogee crown type with turned centre post and
acorn finials. Wall paintings: C14 figure of St. James the Great with trail
design above, in jamb of south-east nave window, fragment of St. Christopher
on south wall of nave probably C15; foliage frieze above east window, C14.

Listing NGR: TM3835196104

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Margaret's Church, Hales at Wikipedia
• St Margaret's Church, Hales official website
• Wikidata Q7594101

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)