South Window, Barston
Millennium window on the south side by the 'Art of Glass' Studio 2000. It has been designed to complement the Yoxall & Whitford window opposite.
Barston is a pleasantly quiet place, never a large settlement was reflected by the fact there was originally only a chapel of ease here rather than a parish in it's own right. The old chapel had fallen into disrepair by the early 18th century so a new and presumably larger building replaced it in 1721-6, the builder being recorded as Thomas Fisher of Eastcote Hall.
St Swithin's is a handsome brick building consisting of chancel, nave and a sturdy square west tower. I would call it a typical Georgian church were it not for the fact its former large clear-glazed round-headed side windows so offended the Victorians that they replaced them with the Gothic ones we see today which don't sit well alongside the unmolested original windows of the tower and the east wall. This sort of alteration was common at the time in medieval churches that had seen changes to their fabric in the Post-Reformation centuries and could be justified as returning a building to something closer to its original form, but here it makes little sense, being at odds with the clearly Georgian character of the remainder of the building.
The interior is simple and whitewashed throughout, as it would have been when first built, though the Victorian restoration makes its presence felt immediately with further needless reworking along Gothic lines. The chancel arch has undergone the same metamorphosis as the windows on the north and south sides, having been replaced by an incongrous Gothic pointed arch, despite the original round-headed east window being retained albeit filled with Victorian glass.
The glass here is the highlight of the interior, not so much that in the east window which hasn't aged well but the side windows of the nave, from 1970 and 2000 respectively, full of colourful vignettes of pastoral scenes.
The church isn't normally open outside of services, but I was given a very warm reception when I arrived after a Sunday service and a very pleasant lady showed me around before locking up again.
For more see the church's entry on the Warwickshire Churches Site:-
South Window, Barston
Millennium window on the south side by the 'Art of Glass' Studio 2000. It has been designed to complement the Yoxall & Whitford window opposite.
Barston is a pleasantly quiet place, never a large settlement was reflected by the fact there was originally only a chapel of ease here rather than a parish in it's own right. The old chapel had fallen into disrepair by the early 18th century so a new and presumably larger building replaced it in 1721-6, the builder being recorded as Thomas Fisher of Eastcote Hall.
St Swithin's is a handsome brick building consisting of chancel, nave and a sturdy square west tower. I would call it a typical Georgian church were it not for the fact its former large clear-glazed round-headed side windows so offended the Victorians that they replaced them with the Gothic ones we see today which don't sit well alongside the unmolested original windows of the tower and the east wall. This sort of alteration was common at the time in medieval churches that had seen changes to their fabric in the Post-Reformation centuries and could be justified as returning a building to something closer to its original form, but here it makes little sense, being at odds with the clearly Georgian character of the remainder of the building.
The interior is simple and whitewashed throughout, as it would have been when first built, though the Victorian restoration makes its presence felt immediately with further needless reworking along Gothic lines. The chancel arch has undergone the same metamorphosis as the windows on the north and south sides, having been replaced by an incongrous Gothic pointed arch, despite the original round-headed east window being retained albeit filled with Victorian glass.
The glass here is the highlight of the interior, not so much that in the east window which hasn't aged well but the side windows of the nave, from 1970 and 2000 respectively, full of colourful vignettes of pastoral scenes.
The church isn't normally open outside of services, but I was given a very warm reception when I arrived after a Sunday service and a very pleasant lady showed me around before locking up again.
For more see the church's entry on the Warwickshire Churches Site:-