St Swithun's Church, Worcester
Encyclopedia
St Swithun's Church, Worcester, is a redundant
Anglican
church in the city of Worcester
, Worcestershire
, England . It has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
. The church is considered to be "one of the best preserved examples of an early Georgian
church in England". Clifton-Taylor
includes the church in his list of 'best' English parish churches.
, gave permission for the nearby Benedictine
priory
to build a church on his land. The resulting church was dedicated
to Saint Swithun. The tower of the present church dates from the 15th century, but between 1734 and 1736 the rest of the church was rebuilt and the tower was refaced. The architects were Thomas and Edward Woodward of Chipping Campden
. In the middle of the 19th century the east window was redesigned by Henry Eginton to accommodate new stained glass. In 1977 the church was declared redundant and was vested
in the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is now used as a venue for special services, ceremonies and concerts. A group has been formed, known as the Friends of St Swithun's, to help in the upkeep of the building and to encourage its use by the local community.
, the present church is built in oolitic
limestone
. Its classicising style is admixed with some Gothic Revival
features. The plan consists of a six-bay
rectangle with a west tower. The tower is in four stages, which are separated by string courses, and it has diagonal buttress
es. At the west end is a doorway over which is a lintel
, and a fanlight
whose architrave
contains Perpendicular tracery
and whose keystone
is carved with the head of a putto
. Each of the upper stages contains two-light windows with mullion
s. Those in the second stage have leaded lights
, those in the third stage are blind, and the top stage has louvred
bell openings. At the summit of the tower is a balustrade
and there are crocket
ted pinnacle
s at the corners. Each bay along the sides of the church contains a round-headed window, and between the bays there are Doric
pilaster
s. The east end is in three bays, with the central bay projecting forwards. The bays are again separated by Doric pilasters. The central bay contains a Venetian window with Ionic
pilasters. Above this window is a pediment
, and over this is a clock. The outer bays each contain doorways and windows, both of which are round-headed.
and the chancel
. The roof is rib vault
ed, and is decorated with roundels containing Gothic motifs and the heads of putti. The chancel contains a screen supported by four Doric
columns. At the west end is a canted
gallery supported by square fluted
wooden pillars. Behind it sits the organ. All the windows contain leaded lights, other than the east window which has late 19th-century stained glass by Henry Eginton. The altar is made from wrought iron
. On the right side of the nave is a three-decker wooden pulpit
, which is reached by a spiral staircase. Above the pulpit is an elaborately carved tester
with a crown supporting a pelican feeding her young. In front of the pulpit is a pew containing the elaborate mayor
's chair and a sword rest, and throughout the rest of the church there are panelled
box pew
s. The font
is in a box pew to the right of the west entrance. It consists of a white marble
bowl on a stem, with a mahogany cover. Around the church are a number of monuments, the oldest dating from 1627. The organ originally dates from 1736, but it has been modified since to create the current two-manual
organ. The first modifications were made in about 1760, then more were carried out in 1795 by William and Robert Gray, and finally in 1844 by John Nicholson. In 2008, because of its historical importance, it was awarded a Grade I Certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies
. The ring
consists of six bells. Three of these were cast locally in about 1420. The other three were cast by John Martin in 1654. There is another bell that is unused; it was cast by Abraham Rudhall II
in 1720.
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
church in the city of Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
, Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
, England . It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
. The church is considered to be "one of the best preserved examples of an early Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
church in England". Clifton-Taylor
Alec Clifton-Taylor
Alec Clifton-Taylor OBE was an English architectural historian, writer and TV broadcaster.-Biography and works:...
includes the church in his list of 'best' English parish churches.
History
The earliest documentary evidence of the church is in 1126 when Eudo, Dean of WorcesterDean of Worcester
The Dean of Worcester is the head of the Chapter of Worcester Cathedral in Worcester, England. The most current Dean is the Very Rev Peter Gordon Atkinson who lives at The Deanery, College Green, Worcester.-List of Deans:...
, gave permission for the nearby Benedictine
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
to build a church on his land. The resulting church was dedicated
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
to Saint Swithun. The tower of the present church dates from the 15th century, but between 1734 and 1736 the rest of the church was rebuilt and the tower was refaced. The architects were Thomas and Edward Woodward of Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century...
. In the middle of the 19th century the east window was redesigned by Henry Eginton to accommodate new stained glass. In 1977 the church was declared redundant and was vested
Vesting
In law, vesting is to give an immediately secured right of present or future enjoyment. One has a vested right to an asset that cannot be taken away by any third party, even though one may not yet possess the asset. When the right, interest or title to the present or future possession of a legal...
in the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is now used as a venue for special services, ceremonies and concerts. A group has been formed, known as the Friends of St Swithun's, to help in the upkeep of the building and to encourage its use by the local community.
Exterior
While the former church was constructed in sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
, the present church is built in oolitic
Oolite
Oolite is a sedimentary rock formed from ooids, spherical grains composed of concentric layers. The name derives from the Hellenic word òoion for egg. Strictly, oolites consist of ooids of diameter 0.25–2 mm; rocks composed of ooids larger than 2 mm are called pisolites...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. Its classicising style is admixed with some Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
features. The plan consists of a six-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
rectangle with a west tower. The tower is in four stages, which are separated by string courses, and it has diagonal buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es. At the west end is a doorway over which is a lintel
Lintel (architecture)
A lintel can be a load-bearing building component, a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors, and windows.-Structural uses:...
, and a fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
whose architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
contains Perpendicular tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
and whose keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
is carved with the head of a putto
Putto
A putto is a figure of an infant often depicted as a young male. Putti are defined as chubby, winged or wingless, male child figure in nude. Putti are distinct from cherubim, but some English-speakers confuse them with each other, except that in the plural, "the Cherubim" refers to the biblical...
. Each of the upper stages contains two-light windows with mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
s. Those in the second stage have leaded lights
Leadlight
Leadlights or leaded lights are decorative windows made of small sections of glass supported in lead cames. The technique of creating windows using glass and lead came is discussed at lead came and copper foil glasswork...
, those in the third stage are blind, and the top stage has louvred
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
bell openings. At the summit of the tower is a balustrade
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
and there are crocket
Crocket
A crocket is a hook-shaped decorative element common in Gothic architecture. It is in the form of a stylised carving of curled leaves, buds or flowers which is used at regular intervals to decorate the sloping edges of spires, finials, pinnacles, and wimpergs....
ted pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
s at the corners. Each bay along the sides of the church contains a round-headed window, and between the bays there are Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s. The east end is in three bays, with the central bay projecting forwards. The bays are again separated by Doric pilasters. The central bay contains a Venetian window with Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
pilasters. Above this window is a pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
, and over this is a clock. The outer bays each contain doorways and windows, both of which are round-headed.
Interior
The interior consists of a single cell with no division between the naveNave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
. The roof is rib vault
Rib vault
The intersection of two or three barrel vaults produces a rib vault or ribbed vault when they are edged with an armature of piped masonry often carved in decorative patterns; compare groin vault, an older form of vault construction...
ed, and is decorated with roundels containing Gothic motifs and the heads of putti. The chancel contains a screen supported by four Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns. At the west end is a canted
Cant (architecture)
Cant is the architectural term describing part, or segment, of a facade which is at an angle to another part of the same facade. The angle breaking the facade is less than a right angle thus enabling a canted facade to be viewed as, and remain, one composition.Canted facades are a typical of, but...
gallery supported by square fluted
Fluting
Fluting may refer to:*Fluting *Fluting *Fluting *Fluting...
wooden pillars. Behind it sits the organ. All the windows contain leaded lights, other than the east window which has late 19th-century stained glass by Henry Eginton. The altar is made from wrought iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
. On the right side of the nave is a three-decker wooden pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
, which is reached by a spiral staircase. Above the pulpit is an elaborately carved tester
Sounding board
A sound board, or soundboard, is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. The resonant properties of the sound board and the interior of the instrument greatly increase loudness over the string alone.The sound board operates by the...
with a crown supporting a pelican feeding her young. In front of the pulpit is a pew containing the elaborate mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
's chair and a sword rest, and throughout the rest of the church there are panelled
Panelling
Panelling is a wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials....
box pew
Box pew
Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...
s. The font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
is in a box pew to the right of the west entrance. It consists of a white marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
bowl on a stem, with a mahogany cover. Around the church are a number of monuments, the oldest dating from 1627. The organ originally dates from 1736, but it has been modified since to create the current two-manual
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
organ. The first modifications were made in about 1760, then more were carried out in 1795 by William and Robert Gray, and finally in 1844 by John Nicholson. In 2008, because of its historical importance, it was awarded a Grade I Certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies
British Institute of Organ Studies
-Aims:The aims of BIOS are* To promote objective, scholarly research into the history of the organ and its music in all its aspects, and, in particular, into the organ and its music in Britain....
. The ring
Ring of bells
"Ring of bells" is a term most often applied to a set of bells hung in the English style, typically for change ringing...
consists of six bells. Three of these were cast locally in about 1420. The other three were cast by John Martin in 1654. There is another bell that is unused; it was cast by Abraham Rudhall II
Rudhall of Gloucester
Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 produced over 5,000 bells. The business was founded by Abraham Rudhall and the earliest ring of bells he cast was for St Nicholas' Church, Oddington in 1684. He came to be...
in 1720.