Church of St Swithin

The Church of St Swithin is a building with a complex history, incorporating elements from the 10th century to the 19th century. The structure includes a Saxon tower, substantially rebuilt and restored between 1845 and 1849 by Benjamin Ferrey for William Nicholson. The church is constructed of flint, with some squared and knapped stone, Bath stone dressings, and tiled roofs. It comprises a nave, chancel, tower, a large north aisle, a south aisle, and a south porch. Architectural details include a plinth, stepped corner and intermediate buttresses, gable parapets, and a carved stone eaves cornice with flower ornaments.

The Saxon tower base is of rough flint, featuring long and short quoins and a round-headed opening high on the west side, beneath a small double opening with a mid-wall shaft. The upper stage of the tower was rebuilt in the 19th century, with corner pilasters, two two-light round-headed louvres on each face, and a crenellated parapet.

The south elevation features the tower to the left, followed by a south porch and two two-light windows to the nave. These windows have drip moulds with carved heads at the stops. A door and a single-light pointed window are present in the chancel.

The west elevation incorporates a gabled north aisle with a three-light window, featuring flowing tracery beneath a drip mould with carved head stops. Three trefoil-shaped lights form a window in the gable, beneath a small pointed louvre.

The interior is in the Decorated style, notable for its extensive carving. The three-bay nave has grouped column piers with leaf capitals, supporting moulded pointed arches with carved leaf springers. It is covered by a double purlin hammer beam roof, with intricate traceried arched braces and papier mache angels on the hammer beams. The west wall has an ornate traceried entrance to the tower, flanked by carved stone, canopied niches. The two-bay chancel has a cusped arch braced roof and leaf corbels. The east window has flowing tracery and depicts the Nativity, dated 1890, above a carved stone reredos of Decorated style niches. The south wall incorporates a piscina, a sediluim, and a door. The south aisle has three bays with trusses formed as carved arches and carved traceried spandrels, along with leaf and angel corbels. The north aisle has four bays and a richly ornamented carved hammer beam roof, featuring cusped arch braces, stone angel corbels, and papier mache elephants on the hammer beams – reputedly sourced from the Paris Exhibition of 1862. It has a double purlin roof with cusped wind braces. The font, located at the west end of the nave, is a carved stone octagon with an intricately carved timber pinnacled cover. A plaque indicates it was “worked in New Zealand and shown at the Great Exhibition in 1862.” Two pew ends exist, one depicting a bishop and the other an angel, reportedly carved by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.