Church Of St Giles

Church of St Giles

A parish church of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, restored around 1880 with 20th-century additions. The building is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar with slate roofs topped by stone coped gables with kneelers and two ridge crosses.

The church comprises a tower with spire, a nave, north and south aisles with north and south porches, and a chancel with a north chapel. The exterior is buttressed throughout with a continuous sill band that runs above the south doorway, interrupted by the tower, porches, and all but the two single north aisle buttresses.

The 13th-century tower of three stages features four string courses and sits on a plinth. It was encased in ashlar during the 1880s restoration. Two buttresses flank the tower, each with a small crocketed triangular blind arch with carved heads serving as label stops at the set-off point. The arched west doorway has a moulded surround with a single inner colonnette and plain capital to either side, topped by a hood mould and label stops. A small rectangular light sits to the north. The first floor contains an arched two-light traceried and cusped window. The north wall has three small square-headed openings, one with cusping. Four arched and traceried openings with cusping light the bell chamber. The tower is embattled with pinnacles and features guttering with gargoyles underneath. A crocketed spire of around 1400 crowns the tower, decorated with one tier of crocketed lucarnes.

The north aisle has an angle buttress to the west. Its west wall displays an arched two-light window with reticulated tracery. The north wall has three arched three-light windows with reticulated tracery, hood moulds and label stops. The ashlar north porch, positioned one window from the west, features a coped gable topped with an ornate ridge cross. Single 19th-century buttresses flank it, decorated with colonnettes bearing foliate ornament in place of capitals. The porch's east and west walls each contain a single arched window with an inner order of engaged colonnettes with scalloped capitals. The central doorway displays an inner order of beakheads along its jambs and arch, with two colonnettes to either side—the inner ones decorated with zigzag to the east and cable to the west, the outer ones both with zigzag. The colonnettes have scalloped capitals supporting arches with chevron decoration. The hood mould shows alternate billet decoration and label stops. Above the door is an arched niche with an inner order of engaged colonnettes and scalloped capitals, containing a late 12th-century figure of a saint in poor condition, with blind arcading above. A 15th-century inner wicket door features elaborate blind tracery with an effigy of the Virgin and Child. The porch interior has 19th-century blind arcading with decorated arches. The ashlar porch exterior is now enclosed by a 20th-century extension of ashlar with slate roof. Its outer doorway has a moulded arch and jambs with hood mould and remnants of label stops; an incised stone sundial is positioned on the east side. The inner door has a chevron inner arch and jambs, supported by a pair of colonnettes with scalloped capitals; a further chevron arch and imposts are topped by an arched hood mould decorated with two rows of billet mould and an intercalated row of arches. To the west of the extension is an arched three-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and label stops. The west wall carries a similar three-light window with the same decorative features.

The north chapel's east wall has an arched three-light window with reticulated tracery. The north chancel contains two lancets. The east end displays an arched three-light window with panel tracery and cusping. The south chancel has, from east to west: a lancet window, an arched three-light window with tracery and cusping, an arched doorway, and a small arched window with hood mould and one label stop to the west. The south aisle's east wall contains an arched three-light window with intersecting tracery, hood mould and label stops. Its south wall has two arched two-light windows with Y tracery, hood mould and label stops to the east.

Interior

The four-bay nave arcades feature octagonal piers with capitals supporting double chamfered arches and hood moulds. The 14th-century south arcade has label stops and capitals decorated with foliage. The north arcade dates to the 13th century. The chamfered tower arch has an inner order of engaged columns supporting an inner arch, with evidence of a removed gallery above. An arched doorway with imposts leads to the bell chamber. A double chamfered arch separates the north aisle and north chapel. A small niche occupies the south side of the south aisle.

The double chamfered arch with hood mould and label stops separating the nave from the chancel is spanned by a restored 15th-century traceried screen. A carved 16th-century figure of St Francis stands to the west, with a 15th-century carved figure of the Virgin and Child to the east. A chamfered arch leads north to the chapel, now housing the organ.

The north wall contains an aumbry with a piscina on the south wall. The south doorway is arched, and the east window has an arch over with label stops. Three chancel windows retain fragments of 14th and 15th-century coloured glass. The chancel has a wagon roof.

The church contains a number of 15th-century pews with blind tracery and elaborate poppyheads; the remainder are plain 19th-century. The 15th-century pulpit features blind tracery. An octagonal 14th-century font displays ballflower ornament on its shaft.

Monuments

The east wall of the chancel contains a finely carved monument to Mary Sikes, dated around 1828, created by Willson of Bath Place, Fitzroy Square, London. It comprises two figures on top of a sarcophagus—one kneeling—with an urn between them. A finely carved monument to Joseph and Jane Sikes, around 1778, features a decorated tablet with an open pediment, supporting two urns at its edges. The chancel south wall holds a sarcophagus-form monument with an urn above, dated around 1817, to Robert Harvey. The chancel north wall bears a finely carved monument of around 1812 to Matthew Harvey, with an inscription surmounted by an urn. The south aisle wall contains a small brass of around 1660 commemorating Anna and Francis Leek, as well as a monument to Sarah and Christopher Hancer, around 1821, consisting of an urn on a pier, and a further monument to William Hancer, dated around 1798.