Church Of St Swithin

The Church of St. Swithin is a parish church with origins in the 13th century. It was extensively restored in 1892, with the addition of a north aisle. The church is constructed of random rubble limestone and ashlar, with a stone slate roof. It comprises a nave with a north aisle, a west tower, a south porch, a north vestry, and a chancel.

The south doorway is moulded and pointed-arched, with a 19th-century plank door. The porch is gabled with offset diagonal buttresses and restored trefoil-headed side windows. A 19th-century timber porch gate provides access. The south nave wall has two restored 2-light windows from the 15th century, each with cinquefoil-headed lights, a small quatrefoil, and a hoodmould. A chamfered plinth stops short of the west end. The north nave wall incorporates a gabled buttress, with a restored cinquefoil-headed lancet window to its right. Adjacent to this is the north aisle, featuring a lean-to roof and two triplet windows in its north-facing gable. An east-facing lancet window with a cinquefoiled head is present, alongside a 19th-century chimney at the junction with the nave. The vestry adjoins the aisle at the west end, with a reused pointed-arched doorway facing west. The east gable of the nave and the east chancel wall are also parapet-gabled, with a small Early English lancet window. A narrow pointed arched doorway with a plank door is located in the south chancel wall, alongside an ogee-headed 14th-century lancet and a 2-light window set in a square-headed opening. A 2-light Early English window is found in the north wall.

The tower is of two stages, with a parapet gabled saddleback roof. It has a restored 19th-century west lancet window, while the ogee-headed belfry openings (except the south-facing, which has a shouldered arch) feature stone louvres, with a narrow slit below the belfry openings.

The interior has been scraped and partially replastered. A 2-bay 19th-century pointed-arched arcade separates the nave and north aisle, with a central circular pier and undercut moulded capital. Stiff leaf carvings adorn the labels of the arcade hoodmould. A pointed tower arch is also present, and the rood loft stairs to the north of the chancel arch contain round-headed narrow doorways. The nave roof is a 3-bay 19th-century tie-beam structure, supported by restored stone corbels and featuring cusped strutting and thick cusped windbraces. An Early English chancel arch leads into the chancel, which has a small pointed recess to the south. The chancel also features a 19th-century raised floor with an altar step, limewashed walls, an arcaded reredos, a restored piscina in the north wall, and a wagon roof. A hexagonal, fielded-panelled timber pulpit from the 18th century is also present. Carving around the north nave window, by Eric Gill, serves as a memorial to Detmar Blow, who died in 1939. A 17th-century chalice-shaped octagonal stone font and a Baroque wall memorial to George Venn, who died in 1694, are also among the furnishings. Late 18th and 19th-century marble memorials are present, as is stained glass in some windows. A carved chronogram, commemorating the death of Charles I, is inscribed on the wall plate of the south porch. The church forms a visually cohesive group with Brookthorpe Court and the Old Vicarage.