Parish Church Of Saint Giles

The Parish Church of Saint Giles is a Grade II* listed building located in Upper Gravenhurst. Originally a chantry chapel, it dates from the 12th century, with significant additions from the 15th century and further work completed around 1900 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The church is constructed from coursed ironstone rubble with ashlar dressings and features a chancel, north vestry/organ chamber, nave, south porch, and west tower.

The chancel, rebuilt around 1900 to replace a brick structure, includes a three-light east window and south windows in a 15th-century style. It has an embattled parapet and a round-headed chancel arch from the 12th century, which features zigzag carving on the west side. The paired columns and scalloped capitals are 1900 replacements for earlier Jacobean wooden columns. Flanking round arches were also added around 1900.

The north vestry/organ chamber, also from 1900, has three-light and single-light windows to the north in a 15th-century style and a plain parapet. The nave, primarily from the 12th century with some 15th-century alterations, features 15th-century two-light windows on the east bay of both the north and south elevations. There is a blocked round-headed doorway to the north and a south doorway with a four-centred head. The nave has an embattled parapet, which is patched with red brick on the north elevation.

The south porch, built around 1900 to replace a brick structure, has a pointed arched doorway and single lights on the sides, along with a plain parapet. The west tower, dating from the late 15th century, consists of three stages and has diagonal buttresses at the northwest and southwest angles. A semi-octagonal stair turret projects from the lower stages of the south elevation. The west elevation features a four-centred three-light window on the lower stage, while the bell stage has two-light pointed arched windows on each side and an embattled parapet. The tower arch is pointed.

Inside, there is a plain 12-sided font from the 15th century, which has been reworked in the 19th century. The 15th-century nave roof has moulded beams and braces, carved bosses, and angels holding shields and musical instruments, with some areas retaining traces of painted decoration. Other fittings date from the 19th century.