Church of St Swithin, Ganarew

The Church of St Swithin is a parish church in Ganarew, south Herefordshire, England. The parish church is dedicated to St Swithin,[1] although the 1868 National Gazetteer notes a dedication to St Luke. The parish is within the Church of England Diocese of Hereford, and the church is a Grade II listed building.[2]

History

Giles Rawlines served as rector in 1624.[3] Tamalanc, a son of Brychan, may be the same person as Tiuinauc (or Tywinauc or Tywannog), a patron saint connected with the Church of St Swithin's history.[4] The church was rebuilt in about 1850 by John Prichard, a noted church builder and restorer of the Victorian period.[5] The church required the expensive restoration because of the failing foundations.[6]

Architecture and fittings

The church, of English Gothic architectural style, is described by Pevsner as Middle Pointed or Decorated Period.[7] The building is of coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and has a decorative tiled roof with bands of fishscale tiles. The nave, south porch, chancel and north vestry, are in the Decorated style.[8] The nave has two square-headed windows with hoodmoulds. They have cusped ogee-headed lights and spandrels. A square-set bellcote is partly supported by a central buttress at the west end and has similar cusped ogee-headed openings in square surrounds and spirelet with decorative lucarnes, and three-cusped ogee-headed lancets in the chancel.[8]

The church interior has a decorative arch-braced roof with moulded members and cusped wind-braces. There is a mock sepulchral recess in the north wall of the chancel with cusping and crocket ornament.[9] The reredos forms the village war memorial, a sculpture in white marble featuring the figure of Christ accompanied by two angels.[10]

Grounds

Bannerman family memorial

The graveyard contains a Gothic pinnacle[7] memorial to the Bannerman family who lived nearby at Wyastone Leys. The medieval churchyard cross is a scheduled ancient monument.[11] There is also a war grave of a Royal Engineers soldier of World War I.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Ganarew: St Swithin, Ganarew" at achurchnearyou.com
  2. ↑ "Church of St Swithin, Ganarew" at britishlistedbuildings.co.uk
  3. ↑ University of Oxford; Foster, Joseph (1891). Alumni Oxonienses: L-R (Public domain ed.). Parker and Co. pp. 1235–. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Orme, Nicholas (9 March 2000). The saints of Cornwall. Oxford University Press. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-0-19-820765-8. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England); Crawford, David Lindsay (1934). An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire. H. M. Stationery off., printed by William Clowes & sons, ltd. p. 96. Retrieved 25 March 2012. Parish Church of St. Swithin, was entirely rebuilt in 1850...
  6. ↑ Freer, Richard Lane (1863). Charges delivered to the clergy of the archdeaconry of Hereford (Public domain ed.). J. Head. pp. 140–. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  7. 1 2 Pevsner, Nikolaus (1963). Herefordshire. Yale University Press. pp. 134–. ISBN 978-0-14-071025-0. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  8. 1 2 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1099453)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  9. ↑ Good Stuff IT Services (3 July 1985). "Church of St Swithin - Ganarew - Herefordshire - England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Remembering The Great War" by Ray Westlake, November 2001, at hellfirecorner.co.uk
  11. ↑ Historic England. "Churchyard Cross in St Swithin's Churchyard (1016117)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  12. ↑ CWGC Casualty Record.
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