Swithun Wells (c. 1536 – 10 December 1591) was an English Roman Catholic martyr who was executed during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Wells was born at Brambridge House, Hampshire in 1536, of a wealthy country family,[1] and was christened with the name of the local saint and bishop Swithun.

During the Reformation, his family contributed to the secret funerals of Catholics at the local cemetery, and their house was a place of refuge for priests.

[3] In June 1586, he was arrested with seminarians Alexander Rawlins and Christopher Dryland and imprisoned in Newgate Prison, but was released 4 July when his nephew posted bail.

At one point he went to Rome on a mission for the Earl of Southampton, but he returned to England to work in the English Catholic underground.

He was again examined 5 March 1587, and on this occasion speaks of the well known recusant, George Cotton of Warblington, Hampshire, as his cousin.

[2] In 1591, Edmund Gennings was saying Mass at Wells's house, when the priest-hunter Richard Topcliffe burst in with his officers.

The congregation, not wishing the Mass to be interrupted, held the door and beat back the officers until the service was finished, after which they all surrendered peacefully.

"[1] After he had climbed the ladder, Topcliffe called for a minister, who attempted to persuade Wells to confess to following false doctrine and traitorous priests.

St Swithun Wells Catholic Primary School is located in Chandler's Ford, near Eastleigh, Hampshire.