Church Of St Swithin

The Church of St. Swithin is a parish church dating mainly from the 14th century, with a chancel rebuilt in 1869 by R.M. Phipson. It is constructed of flint, with some knapped and coursed flint, and limestone dressings. The roofs are slate, with lead coverings over the aisles.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north and south aisles, and a south porch. The west tower has staged buttresses with stone quoins and flushwork panels, a coped tower parapet with simple corner pinnacles, and brick quoins. The western parapet is dated 'T 1672 . R' in dark brick lettering. The belfry openings are louvred with 14th-century traceried heads, and there is a square Decorated ringing chamber opening. The west window has 19th-century panel tracery, and small quatrefoil stair windows are located on the south side. The clerestory windows are quatrefoil and feature knapped and squared flintwork in the upper part of the nave walls. The nave roof has been lowered, and a small, blocked triangular headed opening is visible above the new ridge line in the east tower wall. The chancel is entirely 19th century, but a three-light Decorated window has been re-set into the south wall. The north and south windows of the chancel have two lights with simple geometrical tracery. A priest's door is present in the south wall, and a blocked doorway with a segmental head is in the north wall. The aisles have angle buttresses with flushwork panels and two and three-light Decorated windows. The south porch has a gable of knapped and squared flints with stone dressings and coping. The south doorway has demi-quatrefoil piers with keeled fillets, which match the arcade piers within.

Inside, there are good three-bay arcades with quatrefoil piers and keeled fillets, and arches with double wave-mouldings. The north aisle has poppy-head bench ends. A high-level opening leads to the rood stairs in the south east corner of the north aisle. There’s a piscina with a cusped arched head, and a tall blank opening with a semi-circular arched head on the east side of the north door. The octagonal font is of Purbeck marble, with a renewed base and stem. A blocked medieval north doorway is located in the chancel, likely re-set. The chancel has a dropped-cill sedilia to the south-east window, and fragments of medieval glass remain in its tracery heads. Another piscina has a cusped head. The roof structures are 19th century, consisting of a King post over the nave and an arch-braced collar with collar-runner and wall posts over the chancel.