About us
St Swithun’s is a grade 1 listed building noted primarily for it’s Georgian nave which dates from the 1730s. It also contains an impressive early organ which was installed later in the 18th century. The history of the church starts considerably earlier than the 18th century however.
This church has been in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust since 1977. In 2019 work began on restoring the building ready for a major re-launch as Sound & Art at St Swithun’s. The aim is for St Swithun’s to be a heritage attraction but also a cultural centre which puts on arts and music events. It is expected to launch in the second half of 2022.
Part of the project is also to build up as full a history of the building as we can. We are doing archival research but also want to capture people’s memories of St Swithun’s. Do you have memories of St Swithuns? Do you have old photos or videos which include it? If so we’d love to hear from you and possibly even record your memories in an interview.
On Thursday 1st December a poetry event, organised by Rhianna Levi, took place at St Swithun's and Maria de Stefano had composed a piece specially for it which told of the significance of our church in her family story. On 19th December we recorded the poem in the mid-15th century bell ringing chamber at St Swithun's which you can hear below:
