Church of St Swithin
Church of St Swithin, Church Hill, Wickham
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1319533
- Date first listed:
- 06-Apr-1967
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Swithin
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Swithin, Church Hill, Wickham
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2005-03-28
- Reference:
- IOE01/14072/31
- Rights:
- © Mr Andrew Clark. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1319533
- Date first listed:
- 06-Apr-1967
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Swithin
- Statutory Address 1:
- Church of St Swithin, Church Hill, Wickham
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- Church of St Swithin, Church Hill, Wickham
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Welford
- National Grid Reference:
- SU 39472 71520
Details
SU 37 SE
11/3
WELFORD
WICKHAM
Church of St Swithin
6.4.67
G.V.
II*
Church. C10 Saxon tower, 1845-9. Rebuilding and restoration by Benjamin Ferrey for William Nicholson. Flint, some squared and knapped, with Bath stone dressings and tiled roofs. Nave, chancel, tower, south aisle, large north aisle, south porch. Plinth, corner and intermediate stepped buttresses, gable parapets carved stone eaves cornice with flower ornaments.
Tower: rough flint Saxon base with long and short quoins and round headed opening high up on West side beneath small double opening with mid-wall shaft. Top stage of tower re-built C19 with corner pilasters and two two-light round headed louvres to each face and crenellated parapet.
South elevation: Tower to left, south porch and two two-light windows, with drip moulds and carved heads at stops, to Nave. Door and single light pointed window to chancel.
West elevation: to left gabled North aisle with three-light window with flowing tracery beneath drip mould with carved head stops. Three trefoil shaped lights form window in the gable beneath a small pointed louvre.
Interior: Decorated style with much carving. Three bay nave with grouped column piers and leaf capitals supporting moulded pointed arches with carved leaf springers; stone angel corbels supporting double purlin hammer beam roof with intricate traceried arched braces and papier mache angels on hammer beans. West wall has ornate traceried entrance to tower flanked by carved stone canopied niches two bay chancel with cusped arch braced roof and leaf corbels, East window had flowing tracery and depicts the nativity, dated 1890 above a carved stone reredos of Decorated style niches. South wall has piscina, sediluim and door. South Aisle, three bays with trusses in the form of carved arches and carved traceried spandrels, leaf and angel corbels. North aisle of four bays, richly ornamented carved hammer beam roof with cusped arch braces, stone angel corbels and papier maché elephants on the hammer beams reputedly from the Paris Exhibition of 1862, double purlin roof with cusped wind braces. Font situated at West end of nave is carved stone octagon in square with intricately carved timber pinnacled cover with plaque stating "This font was worked in New Zealand and shown at the Great Exhibition in 1862." Two pew ends one depicting a bishop and the other an angel are said to have been carved by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
Listing NGR: SU3947271520
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 39796
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 266
Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, (1906), 110
Murrays Architectural Guide in Berkshire, (1949), 151
Websites
British Geological Survey, Strategic Stone Study, accessed 5 February 2020 from https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/buildingStones/StrategicStoneStudy/EH_atlases.html
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jun-2026 at 23:50:50.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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