The gilded golden lions on the west doors of the Pugin designed St Giles' Giles parish church Cheadle Staffs
Serving the parish of Cheadle, Staffordshire, St Giles' is considered to be the finest of all the churches built by the celebrated nineteenth century architect and designer, Pugin. It was financed by John Talbot (1791-1852), sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury. Begun in 1841 and completed in 1846, St Giles' is of unique importance in the history of the Gothic and Catholic Revival. St Giles' was a seventh-century French abbot and is often pictured with a doe, an allusion to the story that he once rescued a doe which was being persued by hunters. St Giles' is also the dedication of the medieval parish church of Cheadle, which was rebuilt in 1838. Dominating the town of Cheadle, the 200-foot, heaven-pointing spire is visible for miles around. At the foot of the tower are the west doors (pictured right), elaborated with two rampant lions . Dominating the town of Cheadle, the 200-foot, heaven-pointing spire can be seen for miles around. The tower contains a ring of eight bells, of which 6 are still the original casts made back in 1846 by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel. At the foot of the tower are the west doors, the gilded iron fittings of which are elaborated into two rampant lions - a device taken directly from the Shrewsbury coat-of-arms. Other allusions to the family are to be found in the lion masks in the stonework of the Talbot hounds, and a the small kneeling figure of John Talbot, sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury with his patron saint, John the Baptist, presenting a model of the church to St. Giles. Externally, the different parts of the building are delineated - as Pugin believed they should be - by their different roof levels: nave, porches, aisles, sacristies, chancel and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, the latter being made even more prominent by its separate gable and additional weathering, and - at the junction with the aisle - a large buttress with a niche containing a figure of the Risen Christ.
Size: 4700px × 3621px
Photo credit: © John Keates / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ..., architect, britain, catholic, catholicism, cheadle, christian, designer, doors, earl, england, english, gem, gilded, giles, gold, golden, gothic, great, john, kingdom, lions, parish, pugin, pugins, revival, roman, shrewsbury, sixteenth, st, staffordshire, style, talbot, uk, united, west, worship
