St Mary & St Giles Church, Stony Stratford

St Mary & St Giles Church is a parish church in Stony Stratford, in Milton Keynes (in north Buckinghamshire), England.HistoryThe present parish church is dedicated to Saint Giles, the patron saint of cripples. Saint Giles, or Saint Egidus, who was born at Athens in 645, was a cripple, and though he had the means of obtaining all the comforts he wished, he would not, but devoted his life and his means in endeavouring to ameliorate the sufferings of the afflicted. Most churches dedicated to his name, are erected by the road side, the supposition for such being, that all weary travellers could enter and find rest and peace.Architecture and fittingsThe tower is an embattled specimen in the Perpendicular style and contains a clock, and a peal of six bells. The height of the tower from the battlements to the ground is 80 feet. In the year 1757 the chancel, or at least the east end of it, was found to be so very ruinous that it was necessary to be taken down, and being reduced a little in size, was rebuilt by Mr. Irons, of Warwick, and several years later, circa 1776, the church was rebuilt by Francis Hiorne, with the exception of the tower, which is the only part standing of the original structure.The building was reseated in 1866. It is a lofty building, and consists of a nave, two side aisles, a chancel, and galleries on either side. The beauty of the church is principally constituted in the plastered groined ceiling, which is supported by eight clustered columns of iron, cased in wood.In 1892, the old vestry at the west end, the basement of the tower, being found inadequate, two new vestries were built, adjoining the north side of the chancel. They were designed by E. Swinfen Harris, the contractors being Mansfield and Buttrum, of Stony Stratford. The vestries were opened in 1892 by the bishop of Reading.

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