Church Of St Giles

Church of St Giles

Parish church dating from the 14th century, substantially restored in 1688 and 1848 when the north aisle and porch were added by G. G. Place, and further restored in 1862 by Gilbert Scott when the west end was rebuilt. The building is constructed of dressed coursed rubble with some ashlar, with slate roofs and a single stack to the north chancel. It comprises a nave, south porch, north aisle with west bellcote, and chancel.

The exterior features coped gables with single ridge crosses to the west nave, east chancel, aisle, porch and bellcote. The structure is buttressed and set on a plinth. A 19th-century bellcote contains two open Caernarvon arches surmounted by a single trefoil arch containing the bell, beneath which is a single panel with two decoratively carved shields.

The west wall of the nave contains a single restored 14th-century arched three-light window with cusped tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. To the left, set into a slightly projecting bay in the aisle, is a single arched two-light 19th-century window with cusped tracery, hood mould and 14th-century human head label stop. A continuous sill band extends to the north and east walls, forming a hood mould over the doorway and broken by the recess. The north wall features a chamfered arched doorway decorated with fleuron, and to its left a two-light window with cusped tracery under a flat arch with hood mould and label stops. Further left is a cinquefoil arched recess with hood mould and clumsy finials, and on the far left another similar window. The east wall contains a single restored 14th-century arched three-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. The north chancel has a single 14th-century trefoil arched light, with a continuous sill band extending to the south chancel where it is broken by the recess. The east wall features a single 14th-century arched three-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and remains of label stops.

The south chancel contains a single 14th-century two-light window with reticulated tracery under a flat arch with hood mould and label stops. To its left is a 14th-century cinquefoil arched tomb recess with the remains of an effigy of a priest, hood mould and three finials. On the far left is a restored 14th-century window with two ogee arched and cusped lights under a flat arch; the single light to the right has a transom corresponding to the sill of the left light with a single small light under. The south nave features a single quoin to the east, formerly part of a decorated Saxon cross, and a restored 14th-century window with two ogee arched and cusped lights under a flat arch. A continuous sill band is broken by the gabled and coped porch with chamfered arched entrance, hood mould and label stops. The east wall is decorated with three-bay blind arcading. An inner 19th-century moulded arched doorway with hood mould and label stops is positioned to the left of a single arched restored 14th-century two-light window with reticulated tracery, hood mould and human head label stops. Windows to the south wall and west nave are fitted with iron bars with fleur-de-lys finials.

The interior contains a three-bay 19th-century nave arcade with octagonal columns and responds, foliate-decorated capitals, moulded and chamfered arches and hood moulds with human head label stops. The chancel arch is 19th-century double-chamfered with the inner order supported on circular responds with moulded capitals. The south chancel contains a trefoil arched piscina with hood mould and 19th-century label stops. A band extends around the south and east chancel, broken in parts, forming a sill band to some windows, and continues to the north chancel window. The west and east windows of the south aisle have hood moulds with human head label stops.

The church contains a 14th-century octagonal ashlar font bowl, and benches with poppyheads, a few dating from the 15th century. The north chancel holds a memorial to Reverend Sampson Parkyns, 1801, with the crown being an obelisk with damaged garland. The south nave contains a memorial to Reverend William Quinton Wild, 1827, by Peatts of Nottingham, with an inscription tablet surmounted by an urn.