Holy Trinity Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church in Swyre,

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. The oldest part of the church has been dated to the early 15th century, with a partial rebuild and additions later made in the 19th century. The church is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

A church serving Swyre is known to have existed since the 13th century, with the earliest record of a rector there dating to 1297. The oldest parts of the existing church date to c. 1400, which includes the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

arch and west tower. The clergyman and county historian John Hutchins was rector at Swyre from 1729 to 1733, and he had the chancel repaired at his own expense during that time. In 1843–44, the rebuilding of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was carried out at the sole expense of the

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and the chancel at the cost of the rector, Rev. John Wickens. The church reopened on 25 August 1844. A

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

and organ chamber was added to the church in 1885 at the sole expense of the rector, Rev. Orlando Spencer Smith.

Architecture

Holy Trinity is built of local stone, with slate-covered roofs. It is made up of a nave, chancel, north porch, west tower and vestry/organ chamber. In the north wall of the nave is a reset doorway which partially dates to the late 14th century. The tower has a plain parapet and contains two bells believed to be of 15th century origin. Internal features include the Royal Arms of Charles II above the chancel arch. The arch is flanked by two painted panels of late 18th century origin which list the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

. On the north wall of the nave is a brass memorial, with shield-of-arms, to John Russell and his wife Elizabeth (Frocksmer), dated 1505, and another to James Russell and his wife Alys (Wise), dated 1509. The west wall has an undated memorial to George Gollope and seven of his children, two sons-in-law and a grandchild, spanning from 1745 to 1787. On the north wall of the chancel is a monument erected to James Napier and family by Sir Robert Napier, dated 1692. The octagonal font is of 15th century date. The church's organ was installed in 1890. It was built by Alfred Kirkland of

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and restored in 1976 by George Osmond & Co of

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

References

{{reflist Churches in Dorset Church of England church buildings in Dorset Grade I listed churches in Dorset