Monument record WHA 009 - Church of St Margaret

Whatfield Church lies within the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, the archdeaconry of Ipswich and the deanery of Hadleigh. It has the status of a rectory (S1).
There are no records of a Domesday church in the parish of Whatfield, but it is thought to be one of the two churches documented for the parish of Aldham (S3).
The structure is: chancel, nave, S porch, W tower (S2).
The style of architecture is Decorated and most of the windows are Decorated. The chancel is Decorated with reticulated windows. The chancel roof is a C15 example of a `waggon type' roof. It is panelled out with moulded ribs and has beautiful flower ornaments with curiously carved human heads as bosses at the intersections. The nave is circa 1300. The nave windows have 'Y' and intersected tracery; and one has pretty quatrefoils in two of its intersections. The nave roof is a C14 tie-beam roof which is archbraced from little moulded shafts on wall posts and octagonal king posts with moulded bases and caps; the braces springing from the same to the collar runner. The font is a plain octagon supported by a cylindrical pillar in the centre and by octagon pillars at the corners. A few plain benches remain in the church and one is inscribed "John Wilson 1589". Two C13 coffin slabs with raised crosses remain in the church. The feature of the church is a beautiful little C13 stoup just inside the S door with moulded and engaged shafts and a cusped arch. The W tower is a low square tower of flints dating from the C13 with a later pyramid roof. The S porch is of brick and quite simple; it was constructed in the C16 (S2).
The chancel and part of the nave were re-seated in 1869 (S2).