Parish Church Of St Swithin

Parish Church of St Swithin

This is a parish church with building phases spanning the 13th to 15th centuries, with later restoration work and roof reconstructions.

The church comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, a west tower with spire, and a south porch. The north doorway dates to around 1200. The nave arcades are late 13th century, while the chancel was rebuilt around 1300. The north and south aisles, south porch, and clerestory were added in the mid 14th century, and the west tower was built in the late 14th century. The east wall of the chancel and the western walls of the north aisle were rebuilt in the 15th century. The roofs of the nave were reconstructed in 1657, the north aisle in 1638, and the south aisle in 1785. A major restoration took place in 1895.

The walls are constructed of coursed Weldon and Ketton rubble limestone and dressed stone with some brick repairs. The roofs are leaded and plain tiled.

On the south elevation, the west tower is faced with rough ashlar and rises in three stages with a weathered plinth and cornice with gargoyles. The belfry window has two transomed and trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the two-centred head. A stair turret occupies the angle between the tower and aisle, featuring small trefoiled lights. The octagonal broached spire was formerly topped with pinnacles above the broaches and has two tiers of spirelights; the lower window contains three trefoiled lights and a quatrefoil in the gable head.

The nave has a south aisle with a plain parapet. The nave clerestory has four windows, each of two trefoiled-ogee-lights in a square head with external reveals. The south aisle features a late 15th-century eastern window of three cinquefoiled-lights in a four-centred head with traceried spandrels in a square moulded label, and a mid 14th-century western window of two trefoiled-ogee-lights in a square head with moulded label.

The late 14th-century south porch has a gabled roof and a two-centred archway of two chamfered orders, with the outer order continuous and the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded capitals. The chancel has two similar windows, each of two lights with Y-tracery.

Internally, the south doorway to the south aisle is 14th-century work with two orders and a two-centred arch. The door has been restored and retains two fleur-de-lis strap hinges.

The nave arcades contain four bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders and a moulded label. The columns are octagonal with semicircular responds, all with moulded capitals and hollow-chamfered bases; two capitals are decorated with nail-head ornament. The tower arch is two-centred with three chamfered orders, the outer two continuous and the inner springing from attached shafts with moulded capitals and hollow-chamfered bases. The doorway to the stair turret has chamfered jambs and an ogee head.

The chancel arch is two-centred with two moulded orders and a moulded label. The outer order is continuous and the inner springs from attached shafts with moulded capitals and hollow-chamfered bases; it was cut for a former screen.

The chancel contains an early 14th-century piscina with hollow-chamfered jambs and a trefoiled head. The south aisle has a piscina with moulded jambs and a trefoiled ogee head. The font is 14th-century work with an octagonal bowl, a modern base and stem.

The nave roof dates to around 1657 and incorporates early material. It has four low-pitched bays with cambered tie-beams and short king-posts with curved tie-beams. Wall posts rest on 16th-century corbels carved with grotesque heads. An inscription on the western tie-beam reads 'R.A. 1657 R.E. church W'. The north aisle has moulded timbers and a dated tie-beam of 1638. The south aisle roof is circa 1785.

Notable wall paintings of 14th-century date survive in the south aisle, depicting the enthronement of one bishop by two other bishops, the beheading of St John the Baptist, and St Margaret and St Catherine alongside other fragments including a Wheel of Fortune.

A sundial is mounted on the south-east buttress of the south aisle.