Church Of St Swithun

Church of St Swithun, Hither Green Lane, Lewisham

A substantial late Victorian and Edwardian town church designed by Ernest Newton, arising from the expansion of Lewisham in the late 19th century. The site was gifted by the Earl of Dartmouth. A mission church, built in 1884, survives as the church hall at the east end. The permanent church was constructed in two phases: the nave and aisles in 1892–1893, followed by the transepts, chancel, south chapel and associated vestries in 1904–1905. Both phases were built by Maides and Harper of Croydon.

The church is constructed of red Wrotham brick with Bath stone dressings to the windows and doors, and window tracery. Portland stone forms the copings to the gables and buttress tablings. The roof is of Welsh slate, renewed in 1956, with red clay tiles to the hall.

The plan comprises a three-bay nave with two-bay chancel, north and south aisles shorter than the nave, shallow north and south transepts, a south chapel, vestries beneath the chancel, chapel and transepts, and the former mission church at the east end beyond the chancel. The chancel tapers slightly to provide sufficient width for the morning (now Lady) chapel and stairs to the vestries.

The most distinctive exterior feature is the extensive use of large windows with rich early 14th-century tracery. The large east window has eight lights divided into two main parts by Y-tracery with ornate Flamboyant tracery on either side. The west windows are similarly treated. The aisle side windows are four-light openings with Flamboyant tracery. The south transept contains a particularly tall four-light window with a transom and Geometrical tracery in the head. Clerestories light both the nave and chancel. The nave and chancel rooflines run through at the same level. Each constituent part of the church stands beneath its own gable, except the lean-to north aisle. Entrances are through north and south doorways in the returns of the nave where it projects beyond the aisles. The church hall has three round-arched lights under a superordinate arch at the east end. The falling away of the site to the east accommodates vestries beneath and provides an impressively tall termination to the building.

The interior is a large, expansive design. Economic constraints meant that effect derives largely from plain, simple lines with enrichment confined principally to the large, richly traceried windows. Interior walls are mostly plastered. The nave features high three-bay arcades on either side with octagonal piers, chamfered arches, moulded capitals and bases. Three-sided shafts rise from the capitals to the roof springing. The crossing arches have moulded arches, semi-circular responds, moulded capitals and bases. At the west end is a gallery; the wall supporting its front has three now-glazed openings into the nave leading to a narthex beneath the gallery, accessed via the north and south doorways. The nave roof is a semi-circular, horizontally boarded waggon roof with tie-beams and king posts, with iron ties intermediately spaced between the tie-beams. The other roofs are keel-shaped except the north aisle, which has a lean-to roof.

The rich ornamental woodwork was largely carved in Bruges by H and A De Wispelaere. Their principal work is the high altar reredos in oak, begun in 1908 and erected in 1911, though finishing was delayed by the First World War until 1919. It is highly ornate with two tiers of figure carving; the main panel features a carving of the Last Supper after Leonardo da Vinci's fresco, with other panels occupied by figures of saints. De Wispelaere also produced an earlier reredos dated 1900, now in the Lady Chapel, as well as the oak pulpit and poppy-headed stalls of 1906. The late 20th-century embroidered Stations of the Cross are by local artist Gillian Riches. The nave seating has shaped ends; choir stalls have been repositioned to the east end of the nave. The organ was built by Henry Willis and Sons.

The foundation stone was laid on 2 July 1892 by the Countess of Dartmouth. The first phase was consecrated on 15 July 1893 by the bishop of Rochester. The foundation stone for the remaining sections was laid on 15 June 1904 by the Duchess of Buckingham and Chandos, with consecration following on 26 November 1905. The first phase cost £6,400 and the second approximately £5,000. Economies from the original design included reduction of the west end elaboration, abandonment of the envisaged pair of west windows separated by a buttress, omission of the narthex-porch with paired doorways, and elimination of a proposed two-light bellcote over the crossing junction.

Ernest Newton (1856–1922) was articled to Norman Shaw and established his practice in 1879. He was a founder of the Art Workers' Guild and an early member of the Arts and Crafts Society, building up a substantial practice as a domestic architect specializing in houses throughout the Home Counties. St Swithun's is his only surviving church; his only other church, the Good Shepherd at Lee, was destroyed in the Second World War.