St Giles' Church, Camberwell, is the parish church of

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

, a district of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

which forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is part of Camberwell Deanery within the

Anglican Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient D ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

. The church is dedicated to

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

, the patron saint of the disabled. A local legend associates the dedication of St Giles with a well near Camberwell Grove, which may also have given Camber-well its name. An article on the church from 1827 states: "it has been conjectured that the well might have been famous for some medicinal virtues and might have occasioned the dedication of the church to this patron saint of cripples."

History

The ancient parish stretched from Boundary Lane, just north of the present Albany Road, south as far as Sydenham Hill. The

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

church on the site of St Giles', and recorded in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'', was almost certainly built of wood and stood amongst fields and woodland. The church was later rebuilt in stone by William FitzRobert, Earl of Gloucester and Lord of the Manor of Camberwell. Numerous alterations and extensions took place over the next three hundred years and by the 18th century, the church was crammed with

box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...

Nave of the Church of Saint Giles, Camberwell (01)

On 7 February 1841 a devastating fire, caused by a faulty heating system and fuelled by the wooden pews and galleries virtually destroyed the medieval church. The heat was so great that stained glass melted and stone crumbled to powder. Immediately after the fire, a competition to choose the architect for the new church produced 53 designs and was won by the firm of Scott and Moffat. St Giles' was the first major

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

building by

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

, best known as architect of

St Pancras Station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...

and the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...

. The new church was consecrated on 21 November 1844 by the diocesan

Bishop of Winchester The Bishop of Winchester is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Winchester in the Church of England. The bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire. The Bishop of Winchester has always held ''ex officio'' (except ...

. The church was built to a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly describe ...

shape with a central tower surmounted by an octagonal

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

of 210 feet (64 m). Much of the facing stone was imported from

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, but by the 1870s the majority of this stone was removed due to decay caused by pollution. Appreciating his mistake, Scott paid for the church to be refaced with

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...

which was more suitable for the London atmosphere. The church suffered considerably in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

with many of the stained-glass windows being destroyed. Just over 100 years after the re-facing, stone began to fall from the spire and major vertical cracks threatened its structural integrity. In June 2000, the top 72 feet (22 m) of the spire was taken down and rebuilt at a cost of £1,000,000.

Architecture and interior

St Giles' Church is laid out in a

plan and has gabled

transepts A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

. The nave has a

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

and lower aisles with five bays and gabled entrance porches. The interior has an arch-braced roof and a lierne vault at the crossing. The nave is flanked by alternately round and octagonal columns with foliated

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

s. The south transept is used as the Lady Chapel and the north transept holds the organ. The 19th-century church features a

sedilla In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the d ...

and

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

on the south side of the Lady Chapel which date from the 14th century, both remnants of the mediaeval church. Further remains of the old church are visible in the former vicarage garden on Benhill Road, where a mediaeval porch stands. This originally housed the sedilla piscina which were moved into the rebuilt church in 1916; the mediaeval porch is today used to house bins for the local youth club. Beneath the present church lies the 300-year-old crypt. The original graves and tombs were removed and the various rooms were refurbished to house 'The Camberwell Samaritans'. The crypt was opened in its new role by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother in February, 1962. The Samaritans provided emergency relief and support for the large number of local homeless men in the area. The Camberwell Samaritans later became the

St Giles Trust St Giles Trust is a charity that works with people facing disadvantages such as homelessness, long-term unemployment, an offending background, addiction, severe poverty and involvement in gangs. History The organisation was established in 1962 ...

which continues to operate in Camberwell Church Street, a few minutes walk away from the church. The crypt itself is now used as an arts venue and jazz club. St Giles' Church also contains notable stained-glass windows. In the chancel is a window by Lavers & Barraud. The windows in the transepts designed by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

were destroyed in wartime bombing, and have been replaced by glass designed by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect; one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishment of churches, and the des ...

. The large East Window was designed by the local art historian and supporter of the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jam ...

art movement,

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

, a resident of Camberwell, and Oldfield. It depicts a wide range of Biblical scenes, from the Creation to the End of Time, in

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

. Ruskin visited a number of mediaeval French cathedrals such as

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as def ...

to gain inspiration for his stained glass designs for St Giles'. The glass was made by the English stained glass company Ward and Nixon. The West window is also a Ward & Nixon and incorporates some 13th century pieces of glass. Saint Giles Church, Camberwell plaque to Charles Masterman

Saint Giles Church, Camberwell plaque to Charles Masterman

On the North side is a plaque commemorating Charles Masterman (1873–1927), instigator of the National Health Insurance system (the precursor of the NHS) and his family.

Organ

The organ at St Giles' is a historically significant instrument, designed by Samuel Sebastian Wesley. Before embarking on his career as a cathedral organist and composer, Wesley, one of Samuel Wesley's seven children, was organist for several years in the old church of St Giles'. After the 1841 fire, Wesley returned to St Giles' to design the new organ in 1844 and played it at the opening recital.Horton, Peter (2004). A Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press The three-manual organ was constructed by

James Chapman Bishop James Chapman Bishop (1783 – 2 December 1854) was a notable British organ manufacturer of the 19th century. History He was apprenticed to Benjamin Flight and then set up his own business in London in 1807 initially at York buildings in Maryl ...

, a British organ builder founded in 1807 which as Bishop & Son remains one of the oldest and last surviving organ builders in the country. Bishop & Sons continues to service and maintain the St Giles' organ to this day. The organ underwent restoration in 1890 and again in 1960. Although it has undergone some adaptations, it retains its original mechanical 'tracker' action, albeit operated electro-pneumatically since the 1960 work.

2015 restoration

In 2015, St Giles' Church embarked upon a major appeal to raise £500,000 in order to overhaul and restore the organ. Much of the 1960s electrical system is beyond repair and the organ's pipes require significant restoration. Spearheading the fundraising campaign will be a world record attempt by the Director of Music and organist at St Giles', Ashley Valentine, who attempted to set the world record for the "longest marathon church organ playing" in June 2015.

Church bells

St Giles' has a ring of ten bells cast in 1844 by the firm of Mears at the famous

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

. The largest, the Tenor, weights 1

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

and 4 cwts (1,220 kilograms).

Worship

St Giles' is in the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

of the Church of England. There are two services on Sundays, a said service at 8:00 am and a sung Parish Mass at 10:00 am. There are further said services throughout the week.

References

External links

St Giles' Church website

Music events at St Giles' website

Camberwell St Giles Church of England listing

Bishop & Son, organ builder

Guinness World Record organ marathon page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Giles Church, Camberwell

Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century Church of England church buildings George Gilbert Scott buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in London Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Southwark Churches completed in 1844

Camberwell