Church of St Giles is a Grade II* listed building in the North Norfolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 16 April 1955. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Giles
- WRENN ID
- vacant-pinnacle-azure
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- North Norfolk
- Constituency
- North Norfolk MP: Steff Aquarone (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 16 April 1955
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Giles, Church Road, Swafield
- OS grid reference
- TG 267 333
- Coordinates
- 52.84945, 1.36676
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Giles is a parish church largely dating from the 14th century, with a late 15th-century west tower. It is constructed of flint with ashlar quoins and slate roofs. The nave and chancel survive, with nave aisles having been removed and the church partly rebuilt in 1786. The four-stage tower features string courses, diagonal stepped buttresses, a 3-light west window, and square ringing chamber windows with tracery composed of four mouchettes in a diagonal petal arrangement. Two square-headed belfry windows are also present, along with a stair turret to the south-east.
The nave has stepped side buttresses, some of which were rebuilt in 1786. A gabled south porch is constructed of rendered brick with ashlar quoins and commemorates the church's reconstruction. Three 2-light Y-tracery windows are situated in the nave, set within the centres of blocked arcade openings. The chancel is supported by a stepped buttress to the south and has eastern polygonal turrets topped with crocketed finials. It contains two 3-light cusped intersecting windows on the south side, with hoods on head stops, and a 5-light cusped intersecting east window. An arched priests' door deflects the path of a string course that runs beneath the window sills.
The north chancel includes a blocked window to the west of a lean-to 18th-century pantiled vestry of rendered brick. An arched doorway and a 2-light Y-traceried window are also present on the north side.
Internally, fragments of an octagonal 4-bay arcade remain embedded in the nave walls, featuring polygonal moulded capitals and hollow chamfered arches. A tall wave-moulded tower arch, with semi-circular responds, and a similar chancel arch, with octagonal responds and polygonal capitals, are also present. The church retains a fine 14th-century scissor-braced roof with collars and ashlaring. A 15th-century octagonal font has engaged columns framing ogee arches, with the bowl alternately decorated with panels of twin ogee arches and 4-lobed petal tracery. A 14th-century wall painting above the chancel arch depicts Christ exhibiting his wounds. An arched priests' door in the north chancel wall leads into the vestry, with a blocked window and a basket-arched recess nearby. Also within the south wall sits a cinquefoiled arched piscina. The 18th-century chancel roof is of thin scantling and incorporates collars on arched braces, with principals and two tiers of taper-tenoned butt purlins.
Local climate
Church of St Giles receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 71% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 50% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 9 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 92% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 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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