Church Of St Giles

A parish church of multiple periods spanning the 12th to 18th centuries, substantially rebuilt in the late 15th century for John Barton. The church was restored in 1932. It is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar with brick and rendering in parts, with pantile roofs featuring coped gables and kneelers at the east end. The building comprises a tower with spire, nave, south aisle with porch, south chapel, and chancel.

The 13th-century tower rises in two stages and displays an arched four-light window with panel tracery, hoodmould and label stops. The bell chamber contains four two-light openings with hoodmoulds and label stops; those to the east and south are traceried with quatrefoil above, the west has tracery only, and the northern opening lacks both hoodmould and label stops. The broached spire features four carved heads positioned at each point of the broach, with four lucarnes. Two 15th-century diagonal buttresses support the tower, the northern one bearing a carved shield. The north wall retains some 12th-century work in its lower portion, including remnants of a string course under the chancel windows. A 13th-century doorway with double doors stands beneath a pointed arch resting on lozenge-decorated capitals.

The chancel contains two four-light arched windows with panel tracery and hoodmoulds. Its east end, rebuilt in the 18th century, features an arched five-light window with reticulated and panel tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. The south chapel, also with an 18th-century gable, has an arched four-light window with panel tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops. A carved head separates the chancel from the chapel. Two arched four-light windows with panel tracery, cusping and hoodmoulds light the chapel's south side. Between chapel and aisle is a doorway with blind traceried door and hoodmould. The chapel's walls display carvings and gargoyles; a single diagonal buttress supports the south side. A carved string course extends beneath the aisle windows.

The two-storey south porch features a shaped gable and diagonal buttresses, each topped by a gargoyle. Its central doorway is surmounted by a hoodmould and seven mid-16th-century carved shields, followed by a string course and a two-light arched window with hoodmould and label stops. In the re-entrant angle between the west-end buttress and the porch stands a semicircular turret containing stairs to the upper chamber. The west wall of the south aisle has a four-light arched window with panel tracery, cusping, hoodmould and label stops.

The porch interior contains a stoup decorated with a shield, rose and head, with a depressed arch over the doorway.

The interior of the nave and south aisle are separated by an arcade of three bays with compound piers comprising four shafts and four hollows with capitals; the outer piers have castellated abaci. The chancel and south chapel are similarly separated by two bays, though with capitals decorated with leaves and roses. Below a chamfered arch supported by castellated abaci stands a tower screen (fashioned from pew panels from Attenborough) with two 16th-century urns. The south chapel and south aisle are separated by an arch supported by two carved heads.

The north nave wall and south aisle have doorways, the latter's east end providing access, while a doorway at the aisle's west end leads to stairs ascending to the chamber over the porch. The 15th-century pews in both nave and aisle have poppyheads. The pulpit incorporates Jacobean panels from Dean Hole's pulpit at Caunton.

The chancel and nave are divided by a restored 15th-century decorated and coloured roodscreen surmounted by three 20th-century figures. The chancel retains 15th-century pews with restored 17th-century balustraded altar rails. Flanking the altar are brackets for images and a wrought iron candlestick of around 1500. Six recently painted corbels, three on each side of the chancel walls, are positioned high up; these supported former timber beams. The east window contains substantial medieval glass.

The elaborate and well-preserved Barton monument stands between the chancel and chapel in two tiers. The upper tier displays carved effigies of John and his wife Isabella, supported by depressed arches beneath which lie cadavers. Six restored coloured shields with restored decorations surround the base, with castellated brattishing completing the composition.

The south or Lady chapel contains a stone altar with five incised crosses mounted on 20th-century supports. Decorated stone niches flank the altar: the left holds a damaged stone figure, the right a stone crocketed pinnacle. A piscina in the south wall features a rose concealing the drainage hole and a crocketed ogee arch above; a 18th-century grave slab lies on the floor beneath. The south wall also displays a recently coloured carved winged angel supporting a 20th-century figure beneath a crocketed canopy. The stalls possess elaborate poppyheads. The screen between chancel and chapel and the parclose screen date to the 15th century but have been restored. Four corbels, positioned high on the walls (three to the south, one to the north-east), have been recently repainted. The east window contains some 15th-century coloured glass. A pew at the aisle's east end lacks a poppyhead but features blind tracery carved to its end.

An octagonal font with recessed panels completes the interior fittings.