St. Giles is the
patron saint of 'cripples and wayfarers', as well as of workers in farms and
gardens. The building dates from about 1215 and probably replaced an earlier
wooden building on the same site when rebuilding in stone became fashionable.
St. Giles consists
of a nave with north and south aisles, south porch and chancel. The tower was
not built until about 1450. The buttresses are 13th century but the square
headed window and embattled parapet of the south aisle are later.
The aisles are
divided from the nave by four arches on low circular piers. The floor has been
raised from its original level and conceals the base of the pillars. The north
arcade with nail head ornament on the pillars is slightly older in style than
the south but both are 13th century.
Above the nave the
fine roof is supported on grotesque corbels. Evidence of repairs to the roof is
shown by dates 1600. 1794 and 1985 carved with initials on the timbers. A porch
beam is similarly marked 1608 and a south aisle rafter 1722. Towards the east
end of the north aisle is a piece of wooden wall-plate with nail head ornament
of the 13th century.
Some original small
windows remain in the north walls but most were enlarged in later times. Most
are 14th century and the four-pointed clerestory windows are 15th century,
restored in the 19th century. A fragment of 14th century stained glass remains
in the east window of the north aisle.
The chancel with
its diagonal butresses is early 14th century, restored in 1854. The chancel is
large and well lighted since all but one of the windows have been enlarged.
There is a piscina in the south wall near the communion table. This was used for
washing sacred vessels after communion with the water draining to earth. There
is another piscina in the corresponding position in the south aisle.
The octagonal font
is early 14th century. In the roof above can be seen the remains of a pulley
which once suspended a font cover, necessary in the days when the font was
rarely emptied. to keep the water clean.
Originally the
furniture would have been sparse: seats were generally not provided. However,
there are some ancient benches with poppy-head ornaments at the west end of the
church, dated from late 14th or early 15th centuries. The other pews were
brought from the old church at Colston Bassett in 1892 when the new church
replaced it as a place of worship. The pulpit was brought from Cropwell Butler
Chapel of Ease in 1981, replacing the previous pulpit also from Colston Bassett.
There are six
bells: one 16th century, two dated 1669 and 1757, a fourth recast in 1905 and a
fifth added that year. A sixth treble bell was installed by the efforts of the
bell ringers in 1981. A worn spiral staircase leads to the belfry and the roof.
A bench-mark can be
seen outside on the south corner of the tower. It is 37.37 metres above sea
level.
