Church Of Saint Swithin

Church of Saint Swithin, Barston

The Church of Saint Swithin stands on the site of a medieval church. The original building was severely damaged by fire in the early 18th century and was entirely rebuilt in 1721 in a classical style. In the late 1890s, following its reopening in 1900, it underwent Gothicisation including refenestration, and the vestry and north porch were added. Minor re-ordering took place in 1980.

The church is constructed in Flemish bond red brick on a low sandstone plinth, with stone dressings including rusticated stone quoins and a moulded stone eaves cornice. The roofs are tiled, with concrete tiles to the nave and chancel.

The plan comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north porch and south east vestry with organ chamber.

The original 1721 windows and doors feature round heads with keyblocks and moulded jambs. The chancel retains its round-headed east window with a blank bull's eye window above it in the low-pitched gable-head. The early 18th-century side windows of the chancel are infilled and replaced by pairs of late 19th-century lancet windows. The nave displays circa 1890s windows of two-light design with decorated tracery. The 18th-century north doorway has stone pilastered jambs, square imposts, and a round head with a keyblock. The south doorway is infilled by a brick heating chimney stack. The gabled north porch of the 1890s has angle buttresses with deep set-offs, a tall chamfered outer doorway and a cross on the gable. The west tower has similar but narrower west and east (internal) doorways, and side windows to the lower storey with moulded architraves, plain imposts and round heads. The tower is uninterrupted by string courses or platbands and features a tall brick parapet with pilasters. The rusticated quoins extend through the parapet. The upper half of the tower dates from the later 18th century and is of a different build date from the rest. The belfry windows have plain stonework. A stair-vice projects in the north-east angle. Above the west doorway, a stone plaque carries an inscription, now illegible, recorded as "This church nearly destroyed was rebuilt by the generous help of this county AD 1721. Thomas Fisher". A clock face appears on the north face of the tower. The 1890s gabled south vestry is of red brick with flush stone quoins and a shouldered west doorway.

Internally, the space is simply decorated. There was originally a gallery at the west end of the nave, removed during the late 19th-century restoration. The 1890s chamfered chancel arch rests on carved corbels decorated with foliage, berries and acorns, with a hoodmould. The nave and chancel roofs are probably 1721 and were exposed and decorated in the 1890s. The nave roof comprises five bays divided by king post trusses with a lattice of infill timbers; the chancel roof includes some trefoil-headed arches. The roofs are now boarded behind. The tower contains a rounded internal north-east stair turret that also provided access to the former west gallery. The belfry stage of the tower is supported on probably 18th-century timbers, including some recycled timber.

The fittings include communion rails with twisted balusters, probably 1721; an altar table made up of 17th-century woodwork with a later timber top; a 1754 wall monument to the Fisher family with a Latin inscription; and box pews with shaped ends and doors. The polygonal timber pulpit and a mid-19th-century font were both designed by Dudley Male of Birmingham. The font has a stone bowl decorated with sunk quatrefoils on a stem decorated with trefoil-headed arches. The stained glass includes a good 1869 east window, a 1970 nave window signed by E Whitford and A N Y Oxall which includes farming scenes, and a 2000 millennium window with scenes from the parish.

Barston was formerly a chapelry of the ecclesiastical parish of Berkswell. The original church at Barston, also dedicated to Saint Swithin, was replaced by the present building in 1721 following the severe fire. It was restored in 1897.