Church Of St Swithin

Church of St Swithin

This parish church displays work spanning from the 12th century to the 20th century, with major phases in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, a 17th-century tower, early 19th-century additions, and substantial restoration in 1873-4 and 1892. The building is constructed in ashlar, dressed coursed rubble, and red brick, with slate roofs and some render. It comprises a tower, nave, south porch, south vestry, and chancel, each with coped roof lines.

The 17th-century tower is largely brick-built, set on a chamfered plinth with single diagonal buttresses of two stages marked by a band. It is embattled with single crocketed pinnacles at each angle. The west side contains a blocked double chamfered arched brick doorway beneath a single window with three arched lights under a flat arch and Tudor hood mould in a rendered surround, with another single arched light above. The north side has a small rectangular light. A projecting brick and dressed coursed rubble lean-to with brick roof and dogtooth eaves extends from the south side, with a large stair turret rising from its right side. This turret has two rectangular lights and a sundial on its south side and a single similar light to the east. A further brick and slate lean-to projects from the first. The four bell chamber openings each contain a pair of arched lights in rendered surrounds. Above these is the early 19th-century stage with a single large quatrefoil opening on each side in rendered surround. A clock face sits beneath the north bell chamber.

The north nave is set on a deep chamfered plinth, rendered above with brick and ashlar buttresses. It features a pointed chamfered arched 13th-century doorway with hood mould and human head label stops, flanked by two 19th-century arched windows of three lights with cusped tracery, hood mould, and label stops.

The chancel was rebuilt in 1873-4 and sits on a shallow chamfered plinth. Its north wall has two arched 19th-century windows of two lights with cusped tracery, hood mould, and label stops. The east wall contains a single arched 15th-century window of four lights with cusped panel tracery, with 15 headstones from the 18th and 19th centuries adjacent. The south wall has a single arched restored 14th-century window of three lights with cusped tracery, hood mould, and label stops. A 20th-century projecting vestry with coped gable and kneelers adjoins this wall, its south face bearing a crudely carved 12th-century lintel above a single rectangular light.

The south nave is set on a deep chamfered plinth, rendered above with brick and ashlar buttresses, and has two arched 19th-century windows of three lights with cusped tracery, hood mould, and label stops. Three headstones from the 17th and 18th centuries stand adjacent to the east bay of this wall. The 13th-century porch is rendered with a coped gable and deep chamfered plinth, featuring an unmoulded arched entrance with hood mould and human head label stops. The inner doorway is a 12th-century chamfered arch with a 17th-century panelled door.

Inside, the tower is enclosed by a triple chamfered brick arch with a wood and stained glass screen, flanked by single small chamfered arched brick doorways with ashlar hinge and lock blocks. A double chamfered chancel arch has its inner chamfer supported on moulded capitals above segmental circular responds rising from corbels. A chamfered arch connects the chancel to the vestry.

The 12th-century font is octagonal ashlar, its panels decorated with three-bay blind intersecting arcades supported on dwarf shafts, with a band of diaper below. The 19th-century furnishings include an ashlar pulpit. The south chancel contains a 17th-century monument comprising an oval inscription plaque with floral surround supported on two angels' heads above a skull, surmounted by a shield. A tablet to Frank Sotheron dated 1839 stands in the north chancel. The east window was installed by Ward Hughes of London in 1896.