Friday, March 30, 2012

90/366 (455)

mwhcvt has added a photo to the pool:

90/366 (455)

The church of St Giles in Bubbenhall

The church has an unusual dedication - to St. Giles. St. Giles was born of a wealthy family in Greece but gave all his money to the poor, and went to live in a cave in France as a hermit, and God sent a hind to nourish him with her milk. One day a royal hunting party was out shooting deer, but wounded Giles in the leg instead. He died in France c. 710-724. He is patron saint of beggars, cripples, lepers, blacksmiths, etc.

The Church Building
The building is mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries: e.g. the chancel with its red sandstone lancets, and the two late 13th century Green Men as head corbels of the old Baptistry arch. The beams in the church porch are dated 1616 and the initials of the then-churchwardens are carved on them.
In the 1860s the restoration of the church included new pews, neo-medieval encaustic tiles, a rebuilt East end and altarpiece and a vestry; also a new pulpit, and two new arches on either side of the chancel arch. In the 1950s the Victorian pulpit and lectern were taken out and subsequently a new wooden pulpit was put in.
In the churchyard there are many interesting early eighteenth century red sandstone tombstones of a type found in the churchyards of the Avon valley, i.e. quarried from local stone. Local quarries existed, for instance, in Bubbenhall (just off the Stoneleigh Rd.), in Cubbington, and on Chantry Heath near Baginton.



No comments:

Post a Comment