Church Of St Giles

The Church of St Giles is a private chapel, rebuilt in the early 19th century, between 1826 and 1828. It is constructed of sandstone ashlar with a hidden roof behind parapets. A chamfered plinth runs around the base, and a moulded band sits below the parapet. The church comprises a west tower, an undivided nave, and a chancel. The tower and nave feature diagonal buttresses and tall, battlemented parapets, with three cross finials on the east gable.

The west tower has a deeply set, broad, low lancet window to the north and south, with gothic glazing bars. A larger two-light window above is also deeply set and has tracery matching that of the nave. The west elevation has a pointed doorway with hollow moulding and panelled double doors with gothic tracery. A louvred two-light opening above incorporates Y-tracery.

The nave and chancel have three bays, with three two-light windows to the north and south sides. These windows feature cast iron reticulated tracery and geometric glazing bars, made by a Derby firm, set in deep, double-chamfered surrounds. The east window is a three-light design with reticulated tracery, and it is flanked by four-centred arched sunk panels containing inscribed slabs. All windows have moulded hoodmoulds.

Inside, a west gallery has a gothic panelled front, and a four-centred arch above leads to the organ loft, with a hoodmould on headstops. The organ is housed in a gothic case with a castellated top. The ceiling is a four-centred arch with plaster, divided into squares by slender, moulded beams and floriat bosses. A coved cornice runs along the top. The interior includes simple, open-backed gothic pews, a squire’s box pew with gothic panelled sides linked to a two-decker reading desk, an octagonal wooden pulpit with two tiers of thinly gothic panels, and a Jacobean-style dado on the east wall. There are spindly, cast metal gothic communion rails around three sides. Stained glass in the east window, dating from around 1844, is pictorial and features bright colours, typical of the period.

A monument on the north side, within a segmental arched recess behind iron railings (likely altered from the original design by Robert Bakewell), commemorates Sir John Harpur, who died in 1741, and was created by Sir Henry Cheere. The monument consists of a sarcophagus flanked by busts with cherubs below and a pyramid above, displaying excellent craftsmanship. To the south is a large carved tablet commemorating Sir John Harpur Crewe, Ninth Baronet, who died in 1886. The font has a tapering, circular bowl on a base of clustered shafts. The floor is laid with lozenge-patterned stone flags, covered by circular brass grills, one of which is inscribed “Harrison Derby 1828”. There are three lozenge hatchments present.

The interior represents a well-preserved example of a late Georgian interior, demonstrating characteristics more in line with the period than the exterior, which anticipates the more serious 19th-century Gothic Revival.