Church of St Swithun

Church of St Swithun

A parish church of 14th-century origin, substantially rebuilt between 1467 and 1477 for Henry Dene, Prior of Llanthony Priory. The church underwent restoration and refitting in 1837–9 by G V Maddox, followed by further restoration in 1885–6 by F S Waller, during which most of Maddox's work was removed.

The church is constructed principally of ashlar under slate roofs with coped gables. The plan comprises an originally three-bay nave, remodelled and reroofed in 1467–77 and extended to the west in 1885; a 14th-century south porch and doorway; a 14th-century central tower; a 14th-century two-bay chancel with the upper stage rebuilt or added in 1467–77; and a late 19th-century north vestry linked to the east end of the nave by a short cloister or passage.

The south elevation of the nave displays restored three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and a gabled south porch with angle buttresses. The south chancel wall comprises two bays, each divided by offset buttresses. Within each bay is a restored two-light 14th-century window with a quatrefoil light in curvilinear tracery head. West of the central buttress is a priest's doorway with a Tudor-arched head. Diagonal corner buttresses with offsets stand at the east end of the chancel, alongside a 19th-century three-light window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould. The north elevation has two two-light windows to the chancel and three-light windows to the nave with leaded lights and Perpendicular tracery. The passage to the vestry features a three-light window and doorway in its north wall; the vestry itself has a two-light window in its gabled north elevation and in its west side. The west end of the nave has a further three-light window with Perpendicular tracery.

The central tower has three stages, the lower stage inset within the west end of the chancel. Clasping corner buttresses with moulded offsets stand on the middle and upper stages above the chancel roof. A moulded string course separates the second stage from the upper, belfry stage. Above the upper stage is a crenellated parapet enriched with panels of blind, trefoil-headed arcading on a moulded string course, from which two gargoyles project on each side. Pinnacles formerly stood at each corner of the tower. Each face of the upper stage carries a two-light belfry window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould.

Internally, the walls are limewashed and the nave floor is paved with flagstones. A four-centred arched doorway in the north wall of the nave is now blocked, while the vestry is accessed by a door to the right of the tower stairs. The nave roof has shallow-pitched trusses with embattled tie-beams and infills of arcading with tracery above the beams, supported on curved braces with pierced foils in the spandrels. The braces rest on carved stone corbels, one of which is sculpted with a mitred head, reputed to represent Prior Henry Dene. Between the trusses are ribbed ceilings with carved bosses. The tower, situated above the choir, has double-chamfered arches; the bulging form of the east arch responds, characteristic of work associated with Llanthony Priory, projects over the supporting piers as the arch is narrower than the chancel. The west end of the chancel occupies the lower stage of the inset central tower, with the responds of the chancel arch projecting onto the western piers supporting the tower. The chancel floor is laid with late 19th-century encaustic tiles, and above the east bay is a 19th-century open timber roof.

Fittings include a late 12th or early 13th-century font in Transitional style, comprising a round bowl on a pedestal cut with an arcade of six shafts with capitals on a circular chamfered plinth. The pews, stall, and pulpit are late 19th-century. Stained glass includes the aisle window on the north side of the tower by Hardman, dated 1878, which contains a medieval fragment of a small mitred head said to represent Prior Henry Dene; the north and south chancel windows of 1874–7 by Heaton, Butler & Bayne; and the east window of 1885, probably by Clayton & Ball.

Monuments comprise a brass to the children of Arthur Porter, died 1548, on the north side of the chancel; the tomb of Judge Richard Atkins of Tuffley, died 1610, of marble with a painted recumbent effigy in judge's robes; a marble Baroque monument to Sir Thomas Lysons, died 1713; tablets to Daniel Lysons, died 1789, by T King of Bath, and to Sarah Lysons, died 1808; a tablet to Samuel Lysons the antiquarian, died 1819, in neo-Greek style; and other early 19th-century tablets. The funeral hatchment of Samuel Lysons, Rector of Rodmartin, died 1804 and father of Samuel Lysons the antiquarian, is also present.