St Giles' Church
A Grade II* Victorian church of 1875 near Castle Mound, on a site founded in 1092 and open daily to visitors.
St Giles' stands where Castle Street meets Chesterton Road, close to Castle Mound. The church is Grade II* listed, and it is usually kept open daily for visitors. The parish belongs to the Anglican Diocese of Ely, a Romanian Orthodox congregation also meets here, and concerts and other events are held in the building.
A foundation of 1092
The first church here was founded in 1092 with an endowment from Hugolina de Gernon, wife of Picot, baron of Bourn and county sheriff. A story told by the 12th-century writer Alfred of Beverley says she vowed to build a church for Saint Giles if she recovered from a long illness. The first clergy were six Augustinian canons, who left after about twenty years for land at Chesterton, where Barnwell Priory grew up. The parish church carried on, though cramped and poor, outside the town walls.
The Victorian rebuilding
By the 19th century the old building had been hidden by post-Reformation additions and box pews. A new church was planned for the growing neighbourhood around the castle, and it was built a little to the north to designs by T. H. and F. Healey of Bradford, consecrated in 1875. Elements of the old church were reused: an early 12th-century chancel arch and a late 12th-century doorway.
The building is brick with Doulton stone dressings and a Westmorland slate roof. Inside, the Oxford Revival look comes from Ninian Comper and Charles Kempe, who were given much of the design commission. Wood carvings came from Oberammergau, and the nave has eighteen stained-glass windows by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Practical notes
Service times and opening hours are best checked with the church before you go.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
