St Peter's Church, Swingfield

A place of worship for the Knights Hospitallers

A huge thirteenth-century tower dominates this medieval church in a quiet location on the Kent Downs. The church has very close links with the Knights Hospitallers whose Commandery still stands across the fields. The church has much to discover, including: a fourteenth-century porch with two medieval 'Mass Dials' (sundials to tell the service times); a fourteenth-century font which was rescued from a garden in 1914; two twentieth-century stained glass windows.

The West window contains birds, flowers, a squirrel and a rabbit, the fine South window depicts The Crucifixion. St Peter's has been enlarged and changed over the centuries. There are a clear Victorian influences seen in the North aisle, the pulpit, the altar table and the chancel arch and the pews, and some twentieth-century additions also. However, despite this, the church still retains many original traces of its medieval past.

To donate by text, please text 'SWI' to 70970 to donate £5 and to 70191 to donate £10. Thank you.