St Giles - Wayside shrine - Gileston, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
N 51° 23.651 W 003° 24.777
30U E 471269 N 5693741
The medieval church dedicated to St Giles, dates back to the 15th century and has a small churchyard, which contains the graves of the Giles family, who gave the village its name, Gileston, is in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales
Waymark Code: WMK15Z
Location: South Wales, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/28/2014
Views: 4
The Church is 15th Century, but this churchyard site has been a place of worship and burials long before that. The graves of the Giles family are buried here dated c1350 AD.
The wayside shrine probably existed in at least the 1300s, may be centuries earlier.
These wayside crosses were said to be used by preachers, in remote places where there were no churches. They were known in Wales as Preaching Crosses, or Calvary Crosses.
The steps are worn, it is said where people have knelt to pray over the century's but the probability is that workers were sharpening their scythes on the steps.
The cross atop this wayside shrine, has suffered from the weather over the centuries, a Celtic cross shape is evident, but no other detail is discernible.
" A calvary (calvaire in French) is a type of monumental public crucifix, sometimes encased in an open shrine, most commonly found across northern France from Brittany east and through Belgium and equally familiar as wayside structures provided with minimal sheltering roofs in Italy and Spain. The Breton calvaire is distinguished from a simple crucifix cross by the inclusion of three-dimensional figures surrounding the Crucifixion itself, typically representing Mary and the apostles of Jesus, though later saints and symbolic figures may also be depicted.
In northern France and Belgium, such wayside calvaries erected at the junction of routes and tracks "function both as navigation devices and objects of veneration", Nicholas J. Saunders has observed "Since medieval times they have fixed the landscape, symbolically acquiring it for the Christian faith, in the same way that, previously, Megalithic monuments marked prehistoric landscapes according to presumed religious and ideological imperatives". Text source: (
visit link)
The Parish Church of St Giles is a 'Church in Wales' denomination in the Rectorial benefice of Llantwit Major, in the Dioceses of Llandaff.
Church in Wales, Web Site: (
visit link)
The church is locked but wardens can be contacted to open it for visitors & prayer.
"Gileston Church is dedicated to St Giles (St Mabon) although it also takes its name from the Giles family who held the manor in 1350. The present church dates from the 15th century but an earlier church must have existed on the spot. It is a Grade 2* listed building." Text Source: (
visit link)
Street address of Church:
Church of St Giles - Gileston, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.
Service times: (
visit link)