St Giles' Church, Camberwell
| St Giles' Church, Camberwell | |
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St Giles' Church, Camberwell
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 St Giles' Church, Camberwell
Location of St Giles'
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| Coordinates: 51°28′23″N 0°05′13″W / 51.473°N 0.0869°W | |
| OS grid reference | TQ3285376682 |
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic |
| Website | www.stgilescamberwell.org.uk/ |
| History | |
| Founded | Before 1089 |
| Dedication | Saint Giles |
| Consecrated | 21 November 1844 (present church) |
| Events | Old church burnt down 7 February 1841; Rebuilt 1844 |
| Associated people | Samuel Sebastian Wesley, former organist |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Listed Grade II* |
| Architect(s) | Sir George Gilbert Scott (Moffatt and Scott) |
| Architectural type | Parish church |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Construction cost | £24000 |
| Specifications | |
| Length | 152 feet (46 m) |
| Spire height | 210 feet (64 m) |
| Materials | Kentish ragstone originally faced with stone from Caen in Normandy and Sneaton in Yorkshire, later refaced with Portland stone |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Camberwell St Giles with St Matthew |
| Deanery | Camberwell |
| Diocese | Southwark |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | The Rev'd Nicholas George |
| Curate(s) | The Rev'd Isoline Russell |
| Laity | |
| Organist(s) | Ashley Valentine |
St Giles' Church, Camberwell, is the parish church of Camberwell, a district of London which forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is part of Camberwell Deanery within the Anglican Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England. The church is dedicated to Saint Giles, 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".
The ancient parish stretched from Boundary Lane, just north of the present Albany Road, south as far as Sydenham Hill. The Anglo-Saxon church on the site of St Giles', and recorded in the Domesday Book, 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.
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 building by Sir George Gilbert Scott, best known as architect of St Pancras Station and the Albert Memorial.
The new church was consecrated on 21 November 1844 by the diocesan Bishop of Winchester. The church was built to a cruciform shape with a central tower surmounted by an octagonal spire of 210 feet (64 m). Much of the facing stone was imported from Caen in Normandy, 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 which was more suitable for the London atmosphere.
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Wikipedia