Church Of St Swithun

The Church of St Swithun is a parish church dating to the mid-12th century, with later alterations and an enlargement in the 19th century. It is constructed of flint with stone dressings, with the nave rendered and an old plain tile roof and a tile-hung bellcote. The church likely began as a single-celled Norman structure, and later additions include a 19th-century apsidal chancel, an organ recess to the north of the chancel, a late 19th-century NW vestry, and a W bellcote.

The chancel has a plinth with offset, and features three round-headed lancet windows with labels on the apsidal end, and one on each side and in the vestry. The north wall of the nave has a reworked 15th-century cinquefoiled two-light window, a 19th-century single quatrefoiled light, and a 12th-century round-headed doorway of two orders with nook shafts; the outer order displays zig-zag work and billet label, with simple foliage capitals. A 20th-century stepped gabled vestry sits to the northwest, with a two-light trefoiled window. The south wall features a reworked 15th-century two-light cinquefoiled window, a high-up 19th-century cinquefoiled window, and a 12th-century round-headed doorway of two orders, the outer order consisting of two roll mouldings with a diamond hatchment label, and the inner order plain, with nook shafts and simple foliage capitals. A 15th-century two-light cinquefoiled window is set into the west wall, and the west gable includes timber framing with plaster infill, rising to support a 1871 tile-hung bellcote with trefoiled openings, a hipped roof with splayed eaves, a weathervane, and three 17th-century bells.

Inside, the chancel is dark, with stained glass windows, splayed rear arches, and chevron-moulded architraves. Panelling and a vaulted ceiling with painted ribs are also present, supported on corbels, with an opening to the organ recess to the north. The chancel arch is asymmetrical, having two orders, with a thick inner order on corbels to the south and columns on corbels to the north. A 13th-century piscina is located in the southeast corner of the nave. The nave contains 15th-century three-centred openings to the east, two-light windows to the north and south, and the west window. Splayed round-headed openings are found to the central windows. Plain round-headed doors include a 19th-century vestry door. Timber columns support the bellcote at the west end of the nave. The original 15th-century chancel roof, of low pitch, is located at the east end, with an added 19th-century roof extending the roof line. A heavy timbered two-bay roof has cruck blades on corbels to the east, carved corbels to the west, and corbels on the wallplate in the centre, with carved bosses and a moulded wallplate; the remainder of the nave roof incorporates 16th-century arched brace trusses. Floor slabs commemorate Gulielmus Evelyn (1723), Charles Dales (1728/36), William Moss (1731), and Richard Heath (1758). Monuments are dedicated to Guliemus Moss (1745), Charles Dale and wife (1794), Rev. John Shorland (1810), Fennella Bail (1730), Thomas Ogle (1801), Mary Bennett (1812), Maria Breens (1836), and display an 18th-century coat of arms of Bishop Headley.