Church of St Giles

The Church of St Giles is a Grade I listed building dating from around 1240, with restorations carried out between 1814 and 1818 by Henry Graham and in 1883 by Ewan Christian. It is likely constructed by the same masons who worked on the south transept of York Minster. The church is built of magnesian limestone and Westmorland slate, featuring a two-bay aisled nave and a single-bay aisled chancel, which has a bellcote at the junction.

The west front of the church has a nave and aisles separated by buttresses, with a dogtooth string course at sill level that runs around the entire facade. The central lancet is adorned with nook-shafts that have annulets and dogtooth decoration beneath an oculus. The aisles contain lancets with dogtooth hoodmoulds and low angle buttresses. The south porch is a precise 19th-century replica of the original pointed doorway, which has four orders with stiff leaf capitals and dogtooth decoration. The south aisle features two very narrow lancets flanking a priests' door, while the north aisle has three very narrow lancets with a blocked doorway opposite the south porch. The east end showcases triple stepped lancets with collared shafts and dogtooth decoration beneath a vesica, flanked by buttresses and lancets to the aisles.

Inside, the church has tall pointed arcades of two chamfered orders on filleted quadripartite piers, with a similar chancel arch. The external string course is mirrored inside, and the nook-shafts are made of original Purbeck marble. There is a contemporary font with facetted decoration. Notable memorials include one for Tomlinson Bunting, who died in 1768, featuring a white tablet on a grey mount with a shell motif and an orange marble frieze carrying a pediment with arms. Another memorial is for Joseph and Sarah Hotham, erected by Sir Richard Hotham in 1791, which includes a white shield on a grey mount with a shield at the base.

This church is a particularly fine and complete example of 13th-century church architecture.