Description

SU 2383,
27/3

BISHOPSTONE,
LITTLE HINTON,
Church Row,
Church of St Swithun

(Formerly listed as: Church of St Swithin)

26.1.55

G.V.

I

Small Norman church recast in Perpendicular style. Three-bay aisled nave with
south porch. Small west tower. Two-bay chancel. Rubble with stone slate roof,
nave roof lead. Late C15 3-light square-headed foiled windows to clerestory
and aisles, labels with shaped stops. Two stage unbuttressed west tower with
pyramidal tiled roof and no west door; Somerset tracery. Gabled south porch
circa 1500, possibly earlier, with moulded square headed surround and a 4-centred
arch, with traceried spandrels. South doorway C12 with billet hoodmould.
Small north door (C19, facing Vicarage). Priest's door to chancel.

INTERIOR: Two-bay round arched arcade with circa 1170s scallop caps and responds
to south (squat earlier looking piers). North arcade C13. Interesting Norman
font: tub on stem, upper band of triangular-headed arcading, then a band of
saltire crosses, next a band of pre-Urnes-type interlace and a scroll pattern
with an animal; band of cable work; lower band of compass-scratched intersecting
circles. Roof: moulded ties with braces from corbels and moulded king posts,
panelled. Victorian box pews. 1637 pulpit and reading desk. Chancel: pointed
circa 1200 chancel arch with stiff leaf-type crocket nook shafts and chamfered
arches. Two-light and quatrefoil chancel windows have rere-arches (but not
in sanctuary). Three-light reticulated (probably C19 restoration) east window.
Memorial to Elizabeth Kete (died 1630), bracketed columns flanking tablet and
supporting entablature.
Small graveyard contains a number of C18 and C19 headstones and tomb chests.
There is a good mid-C18 example in the north-west angle of the church with scroll
brackets in rebates, panels with carved drapery and oval panels with angels
in the corners.

Listing NGR: SU2319583289

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527847

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)