St Giles' Church is located in the town of Wrexham, North Wales.

The Church is first mentioned in the early thirteenth century but was probably founded at a much earlier date, possibly as part of an original Saxon settlement. As well as fulfilling its primary role as a place of worship, this historic church illuminates the history of the community and offers us the opportunity to appreciate the crafts and skills of past generations.

The impressive tower is renowned as one of the seven wonders of Wales and the external stone work displays a rich and varied collection of medieval stone carvings.

Ghoulish gargoyles and grinning grotesques watch the passers-by.

In the 21st Century it is the CCTV cameras that are the watchers ...which begs the question .. Which are the more demonic?

Not surprisingly after 500 years many of the carvings are looking the worse for wear. Let's hope the clean atmosphere of the 21st Century (Wrexham was an industrial and coal mining area in days gone by) will slow down the rate of deterioration. Within the church itself the stone corbels, decorated with armorial shields and a strange mixture of bishops and devils, are as clear cut as when they were carved in the 16th Century.

What to see at St Giles Church:

The 135ft tower.

Items of note within the church include:

A c.1524 brass eagle lectern, one of only 40 surviving in Britain from the Pre Reformation period.

The early 16th Century "Doom Painting" of the Last Judgement, a wall painting over the arch of the east wall showing figures rising from their coffins to present themselves before Christ in majesty.

The camberbeam timber nave roof that dates from the 16th Century and is supported by corbels sited between the clerestory windows. The ceiling has a colourful display of flying musical angels culminating before the Chancel with a depiction of the Devil.

14th and 15th Century effigies, 17th Century brasses, and a collection of 17-19th Century memorials including the memorial to Mary Middleton by Louis Roubiliac a renowned sculptor of the period.

The Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443-1509) Connection :

It is reputed that the accession to the throne of England by her son Henry was cause for Margaret Beaufort the mother of King Henry VII and grandmother of King Henry VIII of England, to bequeath monies to several churches in North East Wales including St Winifrides Holywell, St Peters Llaneurgain (Northop), St Mary the Virgin Mold, St Giles Church Wrexham, and the Church of All Saints Gresford.

Margaret Beaufort was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, an influential matriarch of the House of Tudor and foundress of Christ's College and St John's College, Cambridge. Her connection to the North East of Wales is via her husband the Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby.

The bequests to the churches are supposedly evidenced by the presence within the fabric of the churches of the heraldic symbols of the Stanley family including the Eagle and Child, (which was adopted by the family in the 15th century) and the Three Legs of Man, which relates to Lord Stanley being Lord of Man.

I can not confirm the presence of the heraldic symbols but I can confirm considerable architectural similarities between the churches, including not only the Perpendicular style which is unusual for Welsh Churches but stone friezes or string courses of crude animals that to my eyes suggest, if not the same stonemason, then at least stonemasons from the same school.

Visit St Winifrides Holywell, St Peters Llaneurgain (Northop), St Mary the Virgin Mold, St Giles Church Wrexham, and the Church of All Saints Gresford to check out the similarities!