St Swithun's Church is a

Grade II* listed 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, H ...

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, ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in

East Retford East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, England.

History

St Swithun's is a Grade II* listed church in Retford that is dedicated to St

Swithun Swithun (or Swithin; ; ; died 863) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. His historical importance as bishop is overshadowed by his reputation for posthumous miracle-working. Accordin ...

and which was founded in 1258. The church is located in the centre of town between Churchgate and Chapelgate. The current building is of cruciform shape, now mainly of perpendicular architecture, but still preserving in its south and west doorways, and in the tracery of some of its windows, marks of earlier styles. The church has a square, battlemented tower, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays. There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d 1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d 1807) by William Kinnard, architect. The Victorian stained glass includes work by

Clayton and Bell Clayton and Bell was one of the most prolific and proficient British workshops of stained-glass windows during the latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century. The partners were John Richard Clayton (1827–1913) and Alfred Bell (1832� ...

Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...

, Michael O’Connor, Hardman & Co, William Wailes and George Shaw. The figure over the southern door is locally said to be of St Swithun, but according to Kidson is of a bishop. He says the figure was brought from a dissolved monastery in Portugal and was given to the church, and placed in its present position, in about 1895. The

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

contains several architectural drawings of East Retford Church by Samuel Hieronymous Grimm. These include a general view of the exterior, and a drawing of the tracery of the east window. There are also drawings by Thomas Kerrich (1748–1828) including a drawing of a window which used to be in the chancel, but which no longer exists. John Buckler (1770–1851) made several drawings of the church, including one of the figure in the vesica piscis, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. While the church dates from the 13th century, in 1528 there was a great fire in Retford which damaged the church. In 1535, we learn that: "Where sumtyme were iiii chauntries which now er in decaye by reason they er consumed wt. fyer." The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The current building is therefore largely the work of restorers. The pinnacles were added to the tower in 1810. G.G. Place undertook further restorations between 1852 and 1855. The Chantry Chapel was rebuilt by George Frederick Bodley in 1873. There was a further restoration in 1905.

Organ

The first organ was erected in 1770 and came from the Theatre at Newark. It was presented by Robert Sutton, Esq. In 1787 an additional stop was introduced by Mr. Casterton, of Lincoln. In 1795 a new organ by Donaldson was purchased and the front of the old one taken to the church at West Retford. The Donaldson organ was replaced in 1841 by a larger one by Walker of London. This survived until 1886 when it was substantially enlarged by Brindley & Foster. There was then later work by Henry Willis & Sons and Cousans.

Organists

*W. Wilson 1770 – 1778 *B. Young 1778 – 1781 *I. Goodlad 1781 – 1791 *Dr. Edward Miller 1791 – 1797 *John Gildon 1797 – 1799 *T. Hand 1799 – 1807 *J. Birch 1807 – 1822 *J.E. Clarke 1822 – 1824 *H.T. Bugg from 1824 *George Dixon 1845 – 1858 (afterwards organist of St James' Church, Louth) *Thomas Daffin ca. 1862 *Robert Nottingham 1863 – 1872 *Hamilton White 1872 – 1879 (formerly organist of Holy Trinity Church, Whitehaven afterwards organist at Worksop Priory) *Arthur George Dixon 1880 - 1881 *William Nicholson 1881 - 1882 *F.W. Wells 1882 - 1891 *Herbert Compigne Andrews 1891 – 1914 (afterwards organist of

St Nicholas Church, New Romney St Nicholas Church is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in New Romney, Kent, England, and in the Diocese of Canterbury. It is a Grade I listed building. The earliest parts of the church date from the 12th century. Churches in the town Until 1547, t ...

) *Clifford Richmond 1914 – 1915 (formerly organist at St Mark's Church, Leeds) *Roger William Soresby 1915 – 1922 (formerly organist at St Leodegarius Church, Basford) *Harold Helman 1922 - 1929 (afterwards organist at All Saints’ Church, High Wycombe) *George S. Alen 1929 – 1938 *Frank J. Ellis 1938 – (formerly organist of St Anne's Church, Worksop) *Leslie Mason ca. 1955 *David Ashforth 1967 – 1984

Bells

There are ten bells all cast by John Taylor & Co, dated 1968. The tenor weighs 23 cwt and is in the note of Eb.

Parish

St Swithun's is in a joint parish with: * St. Nicholas' Church, Askham * All Saints' Church, Babworth * St Martin's Church, Bole * Our Lady and St Peter's Church, Bothamsall * St John the Baptist Church, Clarborough * All Saints' Church, Eaton * St Giles' Church, Elkesley * St Peter's Church, Gamston * St. Helen's Church, Grove * St Peter's Church, Hayton * St Martin's Church, North Leverton * St Peter and St Paul's Church, North Wheatley * All Hallows' Church, Ordsall * St Martin's Church, Ranby * St Saviour's Church, Retford * St Michael the Archangel's Church, Retford * All Saints' Church, South Leverton * St Peter and St Paul's Church, Sturton-le-Steeple * St Bartholomew's Church, Sutton-cum-Lound * St Paul's Church, West Drayton

References