St Giles, Wrexham
St Giles, Wrexham
St Giles (Eglwys San Silyn) is the Grade I parish church of Wrexham, standing above the Gwenfro at the south edge of the town centre, in the Diocese of St Asaph. Cadw and later writers rank it among the finest late-medieval churches in Wales; the tower is one of the traditional Seven Wonders of Wales.
- Location
- Wrexham, Wrexham
- Country
- Wales
- County
- Wrexham
- City / town
- Wrexham
- Address
- Church Street, Wrexham, Wrexham, LL13 8LY
- Postcode
- LL13 8LY
- Built
- Late C15; C14 arcades; tower c.1506–1520
- Architect
- Tower ascribed to William Hart of Bristol; restorations by Benjamin Ferrey (1867) and H A Prothero (1903–4)
- Denomination
- Church in Wales
- Dedication
- Giles
- Diocese
- St Asaph
- Parish
- Wrexham
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Perpendicular
- Materials
- Coursed and squared stone with leaded roofs
- Grid reference
- SJ 335 501
- Opening hours
- The church is open, warm and lit throughout the year; generally Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm and for Sunday Services usually 8am to 1pm approximately.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Cadw records a parish church that is externally principally late fifteenth-century, built in phases culminating in the tower of about 1506–1520. The interior incorporates fourteenth-century Decorated arcades. The plan is a west tower, nave with clerestory and two aisles (integral west porches), and an apsidal Perpendicular chancel. The fabric is coursed and squared stone with leaded roofs. The richly decorated multi-stage tower has clasping buttresses, blind traceried arcading, canopied niches, crocketed pinnacles and octagonal angle turrets. Wikipedia ascribes the tower to William Hart of Bristol and notes statues including the arrow and deer of St Giles.
Nineteenth- and twentieth-century restorations were by Benjamin Ferrey (1867) and H. A. Prothero (1894 and 1903–4). Cadw notes a Doom painting over the chancel arch (uncovered 1867), a wrought-iron chancel screen by the Davies brothers, a 1914 reredos by Thomas Graham Jackson, and monuments including work by Roubiliac and Westmacott. Stained glass includes David Evans, Powell, Kempe, Clayton and Bell, and Burne-Jones panels moved from the demolished church of St John.