St Giles, Bowes

St Giles is a Grade II parish church on The Street at Bowes, County Durham, close to Bowes Castle, in the Diocese of Leeds and the parish of Bowes.

Overview

Historic England records a mid-twelfth-century aisleless nave, a thirteenth-century chancel, fourteenth-century north and south transepts, and a south porch of about 1404. Messrs Hay of Liverpool restored the church extensively in 1863 and added the north porch. The fabric is coursed and partly rendered sandstone rubble with graduated green slate roofs. The nave is of four bays with a west bellcote of twin pointed openings; the lower, narrower chancel is also of four bays and has a late fifteenth-century Perpendicular three-light east window. Almost all other windows are trefoil-headed lancets of 1863.

Both porches shelter mid-twelfth-century doorways with chamfered round arches. The south porch gable has a worn Crucifixion relief. The listing notes an inscribed Roman dedication stone in the north transept and two fonts flanking the north door: a twelfth-century circular bowl with incised zigzag on a thirteenth-century stem, and a thirteenth-century bowl with leaf bands standing on a recut fragment of a Roman altar. Medieval grave-slab fragments survive, including a large slab with sword and hound.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1323050
• British Listed Buildings