PIN St Giles in the Fields

Legendary, old site in the city`s heart

At the site of Saint Giles in the Fields church, a chapel was founded in 1101 by Queen Matilda (wife of the first Plantagenet King Henry I) that served the adjacent monastery as well as a leper hospital. The chapel also served the neighbouring population and this continued when the parish church was founded in 1539 after the hospital and monastery closed.

In 1623 a new church was built and in 1632 consecrated by the Bishop of London, William Laud. The new church was supported by the Crown and decorated in the High Church style. It inevitably became a target for Cromwell`s Puritans during the Civil War and Commonwealth period, losing much of its stained glass and tapestries. The church suffered severe damp, possibly due to plague pits in the adjacent churchyard and was eventually demolished, rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1733.

History

St Giles in the Fields parish has had a rich social history over the centuries. When the parish was founded in 1539, the addition of “in the Fields” was added to its name, being located on the outskirts of the city.

The parish’s population quickly expanded and the area became a focal point of urban activity being on the edge of the two great thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. It became known as the place where the Great Plague of 1665 originated, causing great mortality and leading to plague pits filling the churchyard. Although there was wealth in the parish, poverty was rife and in the 18th century, Hogarth famously sketched the parish in “Four Times a Day” and “Gin Lane”.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries, as the population continued to explode, St Giles became synonymous with vagrancy and destitution. The Rookery, which included Seven Dials, became notorious as one of the worst slums in Britain. However, the parish also had strong connections with poets like Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley whose children were baptised there. In the 20th century, the area around St Giles became increasingly urban and the church is now dwarfed by tower blocks. However, the area remains as colourful as ever being near the dynamic cultural areas of the theatre district, Soho and Oxford Street.

TripTide Thoughts

Everywhere you turn there is a story and every inch of the church and grounds are pages in the book

Opening hours

The Church is normally open for prayer and quiet from Monday to Friday from 8.15am (when Morning Prayer begins) to 6pm (when Evening Prayer ends). Musical rehearsal may be taking place. The Church is closed on Saturdays and Public Holidays. Occasionally it is necessary to close the Church before 6pm or for short periods during the day when no one is on the premises and sometimes due to other clergy commitments it is not possible to conduct Evening Prayer, but these occasions are few.

How to get there

St Giles is at the heart of the west end between Covent Garden, Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia.

Underground: We are a short walk from Tottenham Court Road tube station on the Central and Northern lines. Holborn and Covent Garden stations (Piccadilly line) are less than 10 minutes walk away, as is Oxford Circus (Victoria, Bakerloo and Central lines).

Bus: The 1, 8, 19, 24, 38, 29, 55, 134, 176, 242 and 390 buses stop near the church.

Rail: The church can also easily be reached from London mainline train stations – we are two stops on the underground from Euston and King’s Cross-St Pancras and three stops from Charing Cross.

Owner

sebastian soler

Hi I am Sebastian - a french student on an internship in London for TripTide. I love music, movies and history - and London. My Home Town is Nice in France. ...