Church Of St Swithun

Church of St Swithun

Parish church of the 12th to 15th centuries, substantially restored between 1891 and 1897. The building is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with dressed stone, featuring moulded and chamfered plinths, chamfered eaves, and coped gables with kneelers and crosses. A single buttressed ashlar gable stack rises above the roof line.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and south porch.

The west tower dates to the 13th and 15th centuries and rises in two stages. It has a coved string course and eaves band, a crenellated parapet, and four crocketed pinnacles. Diagonal buttresses with three setoffs flank the tower. The first stage contains a south-facing light and a chamfered four-centred arched doorway on the west side, above which is a similar 15th-century triple lancet. A clock occupies the north side. The second stage has four restored cusped double lancets.

The nave contains a clerestory of three bays with restored 19th-century round-headed windows—two to the north and three to the south. Each side has a restored 14th-century kneeler to the east.

The north aisle dates to the late 15th century and comprises three bays with two diagonal buttresses. A central re-set doorway of 12th-century date has three orders with scalloped capitals, cabling, and zigzag bands. It is flanked by single restored double lancets with square-headed reveals and hood moulds. The south aisle is similar, with two comparable lancets.

The chancel dates to the mid-14th century and has three bays with a moulded sill band and elaborate plinth. Each side features two gabled buttresses, and the east end has two diagonal buttresses, each bearing a pair of gargoyles. On each side are two double reticulated lancets with moulded reveals and hood moulds. The east end contains a five-light lancet with flowing tracery and hood mould, above which is a traceried lancet with an apron containing two shields.

A mid-20th-century vestry has a flat roof with parapet and mullioned casements to the east and south. The south porch was rebuilt in the late 19th century with a flat roof, moulded eaves band, and parapet. Its chamfered round-headed doorway has imposts. The interior contains two stone benches and a vaulted roof. A 14th-century doorway features keeled moulding and a hood mould with stops, with a restored 17th-century plank door.

The nave arcades date to the late 14th century and comprise three bays, each with two octagonal piers and responds having moulded bases and capitals. Chamfered and rebated arches have hood moulds with stops. The collar purlin roof was altered in the late 19th century and incorporates large tie beams, arch braces, and struts. The tower arch is 13th-century with double chamfered and rebated moulding and conical imposts. A late 19th-century oak screen in 14th-century style incorporates 14th-century fragments. The tower chamber has moulded stone benches.

The north aisle contains stained glass windows dated 1908 and 1907. The south aisle has a moulded sill band to the east and a 13th-century chamfered trefoil-headed piscina on the south side, accompanied by stained glass windows dated 1908 and 1909. Both aisles have late 19th-century lean-to roofs.

The 14th-century chancel arch, restored, has double chamfered and rebated moulding with a hood mould and filleted responds. The chancel has a moulded sill band. On the north side to the west is stained glass by Morris & Company from 1910 to a Burne-Jones design, with a stained glass window dated 1882 to its right. A square aumbry with an 18th-century door is adjacent. The east end contains a window with moulded reveal, hood mould, and stained glass by Kempe from 1897, flanked by two large mask corbels said to represent Edward III and Eleanor of Aquitaine. The south side features an east-facing cusped piscina with filleted shaft and ogee head, followed by a restored 14th-century sedilia with pierced quatrefoils and keel-moulded surround. A stained glass window from 1909 and a memorial window from 1919 are to the right. Most chancel windows incorporate early 14th-century stained glass fragments.

Fittings include a 12th-century tub font decorated with zigzag, with an octagonal buttressed cover from 1846. An early 17th-century communion table with fluted bulbous legs, a 17th-century chest on stand, a late 19th-century traceried octagonal oak pulpit and lectern, and 14th-century style stalls and benches are present.

Memorials include a homiletic tablet signed by Willm Edge from 1770, an early 18th-century tablet to the Montagu family, and three brasses from the 19th and 20th centuries.