Our Church

Who was Saint Giles?
The church's original foundation in 1101 was for a Leper hospital and chapel, which was known as the St Giles Hospital - St Giles being the patron saint of outcasts (ie the saint has a special concern for the care of those separated from the community).

St. Giles, known in early writings as Aegidius, is reputed to have been born in Athens the son of Theodore and Pelagia in about 640. When he was twenty-four his parents died, and Giles, stricken by the double loss, and unconsoled by the pleasures of fashionable life, sold all that he had and gave to the poor in order to follow Christ.

He took to sea and landed on the coast of Provence. On the shore he saw human footsteps, and following these, he found a cave in which an old hermit had lived for years on roots and herbs, and who was content to share his cave, his food and his prayers with the young man.

After three days Giles began to fear his friends might find him, so he hailed a passing ship and sailed on to the west, and landed at Marseilles. Still seeking solitude, he crossed the Rhone and went towards a rocky promontory above the river Gardon. Here, in a cave, the entrance of which was hidden by a thicket, he found another solitary, also a Greek.

Staying a short time, he continued his journey, till finally, in the depth of a forest near Nimes, he found a hollow of a rock in a green glade by a stream, shaded by four gigantic oaks. There he lived in peace and prayer, his only companion a gentle hind, whose milk he drank.

Here he was discovered by Flavius (Wamba), king of the VisiGoths. The king was out hunting and shot an arrow at the hind, missed it, and hit Giles who was at his devotions. Giles, though wounded, continued at his prayers and refused all compensation for the injury done to his body.

This incident made him a great favourite at Court, especially with Wamba, who pressed him to stay. The king would have given him lands for any foundation he chose, but no entreaties would persuade him to desert his life of solitude and prayer.

Legend says that Giles consented to be the founder of the monastery near Nimes about 673, which flourished till the Saracen invasion, when it was was burned down and, according to legend, he and his monks took refuge with Charles Martel, aiding him by their prayers in his great battle for Christianity in the West.

St. Giles' monastery was restored, and with the words, " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace," he died on September 1st, 720.

St. Giles became one of the most popular saints in the West, the patron saint of woodland, of lepers, beggars, cripples, and of those struck by sudden misery, and driven into solitude like the hind, which, according to one tradition, came to St. Giles wounded.

He is also the patron saint of over one hundred and fifty churches in the United Kingdom, and should not be confused with another abbot of the same name, who was in the same province two hundred years earlier.

In the Prayer Book he is described as "St. Giles, Abbot and Confessor", and he is commemorated on September 1st.