Photographs © Dr Craig Thornber, who kindly provided a larger version of one already on his own site (see sources below), and one new one. Text by Jacqueline Banerjee, 2012.
Church of St Giles the Abbot, Hall Orchard, Cheadle, Staffordshire. Grade II Listed Building. Architect: James Pigott Pritchett (1789-1868). Built 1837-39, of sandstone ashlar with a tiled roof. This Church of England church was built on the site of the old, smaller parish church, but on a more northerly part of it ("The Parish of Cheadle"), and has a beautiful spacious hilltop setting — giving it all the natural advantages that Pugin's more famous Roman Catholic St Giles's Church, right down in the middle of Cheadle, lacks.
Another view of the church. [Click on this and the image above for larger pictures.]
A more conventional church building, Pritchett's St Giles looks sturdy enough, with Perp(endicular) Gothic windows and a Gothic tower rising two stages above the nave and topped with "crenellated parapet with pinnacles at angles" (see listing text). Inside, the nave is "light and lofty" (Thornber), with slender piers, and now has a red-painted ceiling above its exposed timbers. In its relative simplicity, the Anglican St Giles makes an interesting contrast with Pugin's masterpiece, and shows why the latter made such an impression at that time.
According to the church's own website, St Giles was the saint of cripples, beggars and blacksmiths.
Related Material
References
"Church of St Giles, Cheadle." British Listed Buildings. Web. 28 November 2012.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, et. al. The Buildings of England: Staffordshire. London: Penguin, 1974.
"The Parish of Cheadle with Freehay: St Giles the Abbot, Cheadle" (St Giles' own website). Web. 28 November 2012.
Thornber, Craig. "Cheadle." Strolling Through Staffordshire (this also shows the interior). Web. 28 November 2012.
Created 29 November 2012