Church Of St Swithin

Church of St Swithin

This is a church of considerable historical and architectural interest, containing elements spanning from the 12th century to the 20th century.

The church was built primarily in stone, using coursed limestone rubble and ashlar, with tile roofing to the chancel and lead roofing to the aisles. It comprises a 2-bay chancel, a nave with lean-to aisles on both sides, a west tower, and a gabled south porch.

The chancel dates largely to the 13th century. It has a plain plinth and coursed rubble walls with ashlar quoins. On the east side is a 5-light window of 19th-century date with Decorated tracery. The north side contains a 2-light 15th-century window with straight head, traceried design, labelmould with head stops, and two splayed lancets. The south side has a similar 15th-century window to the left of a blocked single-chamfered pointed priest's doorway, with a window of two single-chamfered pointed lights and a further reticulated window to the right. Inside, the chancel has a 19th-century collar and scissor-braced roof. The lancets have wide splays, and the south window has a cusped rere-arch. A piscina with simple head survives, and the chancel arch, which dates to the early 14th century, is moulded and dies into the walls.

The nave has 12th-century arcades. The south arcade is Norman in character, comprising two bays with stepped arches carried on a round pier with round base, with round responds; the hoods over the arches are carved with heads. A later elliptical arch stands to the west. The north arcade dates to the late 12th century and has four bays with stepped arches on round piers carrying square bases; the responds are fitted with attached shafts and scalloped capitals. The nave roof has arch braces on corbels and double-chamfered principals. Above the arcades, much-restored ashlar clerestory work is visible, with a cornice and coped parapet; there are four 2-light straight-headed windows to the south and five to the north. At the east end of the nave is a gable cross with two small lights above the chancel.

The north aisle has offset diagonal buttresses, a cornice and coped parapet. The 19th-century north porch has a two-order entrance with lateral buttresses, side lights and a tile roof. Three windows of 2 lights with Decorated tracery and hoods light the aisle, along with a 3-light window with reticulated tracery at the west and another at the east with a blind central panel. Inside the north aisle, the roof features cambered tie beams and a richly moulded purlin. A piscina with trefoil head and scalloped bowl is present. The aisle also contains a round font with scalloped moulding, and various pews, some with moulded muntins and top rails that served as a model for later 19th and 20th-century pews throughout the church.

The south aisle is similar in plan but lacks a cornice or parapet. A blocked entrance with continuous moulding and adjacent buttress is visible to the left; two traceried lights stand to the east. Inside, the south aisle features cusped ogee-arched sedilia and a 2-light traceried double piscina.

The west tower is of three stages. It has a moulded plinth, diagonal buttresses and two string courses. The top stage, which is of 15th-century date, carries a cornice and crenellated parapet with continuous roll moulding and pinnacles. The bell openings consist of tall 2-light windows with Y-tracery and stone louvres. To the north is a small window to the second stage with an inserted clock face, and a small window to the south. The tower is crowned by a spire with four pinnacles at its base and ribs; it bears a relief band over 2-light lucarnes and a weathercock. The tower arch, dating to the early 14th century, is notably rich in continuous mouldings, with two former roof lines visible above. The 15th-century nave clerestory and the 15th-century top stage of the tower are significant later additions to the medieval structure.

The church contains a wealth of fittings and monuments. The nave holds painted Royal arms dating from 1804–37, and a 1925 pulpit with moulded bands and pierced motifs. The north aisle includes the round font mentioned above, parclose screens of 20th-century date forming a chapel at the east end, and an altar rail incorporating a 15th-century panel with blind tracery. Painted boards with the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments, dated 1826, survive in the north aisle. The south aisle houses an organ at the west end and painted charity boards from the 1860s.

Monuments include the plain chest tomb of Sir William Clopton, who died in the early 15th century, with a moulded top slab and knight's effigy, located in the south arcade. Joan Clopton, who died in 1430, has a chest tomb with panelled sides in the south aisle; this carries a marble top with an inset brass figure, canopy, inscription and shields. Thomas and Ann Lingen, who died in 1735 and 1737 respectively, are commemorated by a tablet with armorial bearing, flanking Ionic pilasters, an apron, and a crest bearing an urn and cherubs. The chancel contains 18th and 19th-century wall and floor slabs.

Wall painting survives on the chancel arch, which bears the arms of Elizabeth I above a partly visible Doom painting. The south aisle retains a worn text within a cartouche.

Stained glass of note includes 14th-century fragments in two windows of the north aisle, and 1870 glass in the east window. Several windows in the aisles contain armorial bearings dating from 1922–1930, executed by Webb; the north aisle east window incorporates a 15th-century figure. This is a well-preserved church containing many features, monuments and fittings of historical and architectural interest.