Parish Church of St Giles is a Grade II* listed building in the Huntingdonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 28 January 1958. A Medieval Church.
Parish Church of St Giles
- WRENN ID
- low-gateway-burdock
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Huntingdonshire
- Constituency
- Huntingdon MP: Ben Obese-Jecty (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 28 January 1958
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Parish Church of St Giles, Barham and Woolley
- OS grid reference
- TL 137 754
- Coordinates
- 52.36547, -0.33148
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Parish Church of St Giles is a Grade II* listed building located in Barham and Woolley. It features a nave and north aisle dating from the late 12th century, with a chancel and chancel arch added around 1300. The nave windows were introduced in the 14th century. Significant restorations occurred around 1850, which included rebuilding the porch and the north wall of the aisle, as well as adding a bellcote to the west gable. Further work in 1905 involved rebuilding the west wall and porch, along with restoring the chancel.
The church is constructed from pebble rubble with stone dressings and reused ashlar, topped with plain tile roofs. The south elevation showcases gable parapets on the nave, while the south porch, reconstructed around 1850, features a two-centred arch composed of two continuous chamfered orders. The south doorway, originally from the 12th century, has been reset and includes a chevron-moulded two-centred arch with octagonal shafted jambs that have scalloped capitals and moulded bases. The south wall contains two 14th-century windows with three and two lights, each featuring a 16th-century head and sunk spandrels. The chancel has two similar windows with Y-tracery set within two-centred heads.
Inside, the nave arcade consists of three bays with semi-circular arches formed from two chamfered orders, supported by circular columns with plain capitals—one of which displays water leaf carving—and square abaci, along with moulded bases featuring spurs. The chancel arch, dating from around 1300, is a two-centred structure of two chamfered orders resting on similar responds with chamfered imposts. The font, from the 13th century, has a plain circular bowl on a rectangular central shaft with chamfered angles, accompanied by three smaller shafts with moulded capitals and bases. Additionally, there is a 17th-century communion table and seats.
Local climate
Parish Church of St Giles sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 97% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 33 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 54% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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