Chideock Parish Church (St Giles)

The Church of St Giles in Chideock is a parish church largely dating to the 14th and 15th centuries, with a substantial restoration in 1880 by Crickmay. It is constructed of coursed lias stone with ashlar dressings, and has a plain tile roof with cresting and stone gable copings topped with crosses. The church comprises a west tower, a nave, a south aisle, a north transept, a chancel with a south chapel, and a south porch.

The west tower is rectangular, with three stages and a south-east newel staircase extending above the parapet. It has a plinth with set-back buttresses, two plain strings, and a parapet string. It features 2-light bell openings with Somerset tracery, a pointed-head west door with moulded jambs, and a 3-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery above. The south elevation has two windows, a porch, and further windows, each with 3-light mullions, trefoil-cusped heads. Carved gargoyles are located at the main divisions, and diagonal buttresses have set-offs, topped by a crenellated parapet. The south porch has a 4-centred entrance, continuous moulded jambs, flush foliage carving in the spandrels, and crenellations with gargoyles. The chancel was entirely rebuilt in 1880. It has a 2-light mullion window with trefoil-ogee heads.

Inside, the nave has a 4-bay south arcade dating to the later 15th century, with conventional shafts, plain moulded capitals, and 2-centred arches. The roof was rebuilt in 1880, featuring high collars with king-posts, curved struts, and minimal arch braces bolted to the principals, all supported by simple stone corbels. The south aisle has compartmented ceiling beams from 1880. An arch leads to the Arundell chapel with heavy, keeled responds, moulded bases and capitals dating to the 19th century, while a segmental-pointed arch, rebuilt in the 19th century and barrel-vaulted, leads to the north chapel, which contains an early 14th-century window with intersecting tracery. The chancel has a wagon roof divided into 36 ceiled compartments. The east window is of 5 lights with net-panel tracery. Side windows are 2-light with ogee-cusped heads under a square head, with hollow chamfers. The font, dating to around 1500, has a thick octagonal panelled stem over a chamfered plinth and an octagonal bowl with quatrefoils sunk into each side. It has a 17th-century wooden pyramidal cover with a finial. The Arundell tomb in the south chapel is of Purbeck marble, dating to the early 17th century, and features a tomb chest with a recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, with three painted shields replacing original brass indents. The tomb chest also has turned baluster half-shrifts and a 4-centred stone frame at the rear. Two 13th-century wall paintings depict the church and street, showing the medieval chancel. A 1880 pulpit stands on a trumpet stem and features panelled sides, while the 1880 choir stalls are wooden. A stone piscina in the south aisle has a trefoil-cusped head under a pointed arch.