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St. Swithun's Church in Compton Beauchamp is cruciform in plan, consisting of chancel 26 ft. 8 in. by 13 ft. 6 in., nave 37 ft. 4 in. by 15 ft. 3 in., north transept 12 ft. 6 in. square, south transept 12 ft. square, west tower 5 ft. 6 in. square, and north porch in the angle of the transept and the nave 6 ft. by 7 ft., all these measurements being internal.

The chancel and the north and west walls of the nave, together with the tower or the lower part of it, are apparently of 13th-century date, though only two windows of this period at the west end of the chancel remain. The north transept is of the 14th century, and the south wall of the nave and the original south transept of the 15th century. The south transept was entirely rebuilt in 1911, when some 12th-century fragments were found in the walls. No part of the existing fabric, however, is of that period. As built in the 13th century the church consisted of chancel, nave and west tower, and probably a south aisle to the nave. The evidence of this is the broken fragment of wall projecting towards the south at the south-west corner, and evidence of the foundations of a south wall, noticed when the south transept was rebuilt. In the 14th century the north transept was added and a new east window inserted. In the 15th century the south aisle seems to have been taken down, the south transept built and the nave widened, its south wall being built 2 ft. 6 in. to the south of the former arcade, thus throwing the tower, the axis of which is in a line with that of the chancel, out of centre. The chancel arch, assuming that it existed, was taken down and the walls of the nave raised to their present height, thus dwarfing the tower, and the porch was apparently added at the same time. It has since been considerably restored. The south wall of the nave was built up against that of the chancel without bond, forming a very weak corner, since strengthened to some extent by rebuilding the south transept. Before its rebuilding the south transept had been considerably altered, apparently in the 18th century, when a wooden window was inserted and a lower ceiling put in. Traces of stucco lined to represent ashlar still remain on the tower. The roof is modern, but the line of the older roof remains at a lower level at the west end, to the north of the tower.

The church is built throughout of clunch in large blocks, and the walls are all without buttresses, and are plastered internally. The roofs are eaved and covered with stone slates, that of the chancel being lower than the nave.

The chancel has a pointed east window of three trefoiled lights with reticulated tracery and external hood mould, good 14th-century work. In the north wall, near the west end, is an original lancet, rebated for a shutter outside, and further east a square-headed window of two trefoiled ogee lights, the head in one stone and without label, which may be of late 14thcentury date. In the south wall is a similar twolight window opposite, and at the south-west angle an original low-side lancet window, rebated all round outside, the sill of which is 3 ft. above the original ground level. In the usual position in the south wall is a pillar piscina, the shaft being circular with moulded top and base, and further west a projecting stone seat, with shaped stone ends. The roof is plastered and has two plain slightly cambered tiebeams, a third taking the place of a chancel arch, above which, facing the nave, are the Commandments, Lord's Prayer and Creed, on either side of a modern painted rood. The nave gable above is apparently of lath and plaster. Traces of a rood-stair are said to have existed on the north side c. 1835–40, and a small pointed rood-window, high up in the wall to the east of the north transept arch, still remains. The floor of the chancel has been raised at the east end and the piscina disturbed.

The nave has a square-headed 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights on either side near the west end, and the north doorway to the porch has a plain chamfered pointed arch. The south doorway, now built up, is of similar type. The arch to the north transept is of two chamfered orders, the outer carried down to the ground and the inner springing at a height of 6 ft. 8 in. from moulded corbels. The north window of the transept is of three cinquefoiled lights, with the mullions crossing in the head, and the east window is of two tall trefoiled lights with a plain lozenge-shaped opening above. The west wall is blank. The north end of the transept is screened off to form a vestry. The arch to the south transept is similar to that on the north, except that the corbels are 2 ft. higher. The transepts are not exactly opposite each other, the arch on the south side being 12 in. further to the east and 2 in. wider. The doorway at the end of the south transept reproduces an original feature, the approach to the church from the manor-house being on that side. The square-headed south window of two rounded lights is the old one re-used, and is apparently of early 16th-century date. It is part of a larger window, probably of three lights, its eastern jamb being really a mullion. The west window of the transept is modern, replacing one of wood already mentioned. In the east wall a recess, found in a similar position when the transept was rebuilt, has been reproduced, most of the old stones being re-used. It may represent a window. Scratched on the sill is a Latin inscription in small script characters difficult to decipher. A stone, answering in shape and dimensions to an altar slab, but without marks of crosses, was found in the transept and is now preserved in the chancel.

The tower is externally of two unequal stages, the dividing string-course being at the level of the eaves of the roof before the raising of the side walls, and terminates in a pyramidal stone slated roof. The belfry windows are of two trefoiled lights under a square hood mould, and may be of early 15th-century date. The walls below are blank on all three sides. The tower arch is of a single order chamfered towards the nave, with hollow-moulded imposts and rounded hood mould, and is the full width of the tower. There is no vice. The marks of a sundial remain on the south side.

The font is of 15th-century date and has an octagonal stone bowl with panelled sides. The pulpit and other fittings are modern.

On the north wall of the chancel is a small brass plate with black letter inscription, 'Hic iacet Magister Will¯s Framton Rector istius Eccl cui o a ppicietr Deus Amen', and there are two 17th-century mural monuments, one on either side of the sanctuary, to two children of the rector, Margaret (d. 1627) and Christian White (d. 1618), each with a quaint rhyming inscription. The chancel also contains mural monuments to two rectors, the Rev. Thomas Langley (d. 1731) and his son Benjamin (d. 1777). In the nave are monuments to Rachel daughter of Sir Edmund Warnford and wife of Edward Richards of Compton Beauchamp, who died in 1737, and to her daughter Ann Richards (d. 1771), the former with a long laudatory inscription. In the south transept is a memorial to Judge Bacon (d. 1911).

A human skeleton on its side is inclosed in the south wall of the nave at the east end.

Some old glass remains in the top lights of the east window and also in the east window of the north transept, that in the latter showing a Crucifixion. 

The tower contains one bell.

The plate consists of a cup of 1668–9, with the maker's mark 'B R' within a heart, inscribed 'Ex dono Tho. Langley Rectoris 1727,' a paten of 1737 inscribed 'Compton Parish 1737,' and a flagon of 1865.

The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1551 to 1776, marriages 1551 to 1754; (ii) baptisms 1776 to 1812, burials 1776 to 1789; (iii) burials from 1790 to 1812; (iv) marriages from 1755 to 1812.

Historical information about St. Swithun's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Compton Beauchamp', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 523-528. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp523-528 [accessed 27 February 2023].

St. Swithun's Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST SWITHUN, Compton Beauchamp - 1198176 | Historic England.

For more information about St. Swithun's Church see Parishes: Compton Beauchamp | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).