Church Of St Giles

Church of St Giles

A church of late 13th, 14th and 15th-century date, restored in 1858 by H Currey. It is constructed of coursed squared red sandstone, limestone, gritstone and sandstone rubble, with gritstone and sandstone dressings and quoins. The roofs are leaded, with stone coped gables and 15th and 19th-century embattled parapets bearing ridgeback copings. Various 15th and 19th-century crocketted finials are present throughout.

The building follows a cruciform plan with an additional south porch linked to the western aisle of the south transepts. An embattled three-stage Perpendicular western tower forms the principal elevation. The tower has a shallow plinth with two four-stepped setback buttresses to each face, rising almost to parapet level. The deeply recessed pointed western door features a moulded architrave and dripmould. Above it is a 19th-century pointed two-light window with cusped tracery, with a stringcourse to the first stage continuing over the window as a dripmould. The second stage contains slit windows to all sides, with clock faces to the west and south. Twin cusped Y-tracery bell openings occupy the third stage on all sides, above which runs a moulded stringcourse with two gargoyles to each face. The embattled parapets are topped with crocketted corner finials.

The north elevation features a two-bay nave aisle with a 14th-century reticulated tracery window to the west. A wide blocked four-centred arched door and a three-light cusped window with flat head are positioned to the north. Between these runs a lead gutter with a rounded hopper head decorated with flower motifs. A low parapet with an original crocketted finial to the western corner rises above. Behind this rises a clerestory in large sandstone blocks containing two twin-light 19th-century windows, surmounted by a 15th-century embattled parapet. The north transept displays a lancet window to the west and a triple stepped lancet to the north, with corner buttresses on either side. Two Y-tracery windows and two stepped buttresses occupy the east wall. The north chancel wall contains two lancets and three stepped buttresses, with a 19th-century intersecting tracery east window flanked by diagonal gabletted buttresses.

The south elevation presents a 15th-century triple-light cusped window with flat head, a narrow 19th-century door, a tall buttress, and an original reticulated tracery window to the chancel. The entire chancel has 19th-century embattled parapets with crocketted finials. The south transept displays a 19th-century cusped intersecting tracery window to the east and a large five-light window to the south combining intersecting and reticulated tracery, flanked by buttresses. To the west is a small reticulated tracery window to the western aisle, a 19th-century window, and the 15th-century porch. The porch features stepped diagonal buttresses rising to parapet level, two stepped plinths, a central double-chamfered pointed door, and a cusped aedicule above. A sundial ornaments the west side, with a small lancet window to the east. The parapet above slopes up toward the west aisle of the south transept, with a large gargoyle to the east. The west porch wall shows a twin cusped lancet window to the south with a similar window above, and to the north a similar western aisle window to that on the north elevation. Two large 19th-century hopper heads and gutters with large gargoyles (the southern one original) are also present. South clerestory windows match those on the north side.

Internally, a tall pointed double-chamfered arch spans the western tower. The nave arcades, dating to the early 14th century, comprise three bays to both north and south, with octagonal columns to the west and keeled quatrefoil piers to the east on either side, supporting double-chamfered pointed arches. A wide chancel arch was inserted in 1858. The western aisle of the south transept has a two-bay arcade with octagonal piers and pointed chamfered arches. The roofs are mostly 19th-century, with the exception of the south transept, which retains 16th-century timbers with carved central bosses. The chancel contains a 19th-century altar screen with cusped marble panels. Piscinas are present to the south side of the altar (trefoil form in the north transept, small pointed form in the south transept). A 14th-century arched tomb niche survives on the south wall of the south transept. The south transept also displays twelve painted biblical plaques, probably 18th-century, and a grey and white marble wall memorial with painted coat of arms dated 1731 to the Bateman family. A similar grand memorial to Anna Edensop of 1762 stands in the north nave aisle. A 14th-century octagonal font with cusped tracery panels is present, along with remains of early wall paintings on the south nave arcade wall. Fragments of medieval glass survive in two clerestory windows and the south transept window. The east window was executed by Wilmshurst in 1857–8.