The Church of St Giles is a Grade II* listed church in Cambridge, England. It is a Church of England parish church in the Parish of the Ascension of the Diocese of Ely, located on the junction of Castle Street and Chesterton Road. The church, which added "with St Peter" to its appellation when the neighbouring St Peter's Church became redundant, is home to both an Anglican and a Romanian Orthodox congregation and is used as a venue for concerts and other events. It also serves as one of the main location of the Cambridge Churches Homeless Project.
St Giles' Church was founded in 1092 by an endowment from Hugolina de Gernon, the wife of Picot of Cambridge, baron of Bourn and county sheriff. According to the 12th century writings of Alfred of Beverley, Hugolina, who had been suffering from a long illness which the king's physician and other doctors had been unable to treat, had prayed to Saint Giles on her death bed promising to build a church in his honour if she were to recover, which she duly did. Picot reportedly constituted the church, after consulting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm, and the Bishop of Lincoln, Remigius de Fécamp, under the supervision of the Canon of Huntingdon and his own patronage against the curtain walls of his home at Cambridge Castle. Former county archaeologist Alison Taylor, however, speculates that, rather than founding a new priory, Picot placed an existing minster serving the area in control of the Norman Canons Regular, and that this was done for purely economic reasons.
The church was initially served by a group of six Augustinian canons, who remained at St Giles' for twenty years until after the death of Picot, when they were granted land in Chesterton by Pain Peverel upon which they established Barnwell Priory. The small St Giles' Church continued to operate over the following centuries but failed to develop due to its impoverished location outside the town walls in a densely inhabited area that was badly affected by the Black Death.
By the early 19th century the original Anglo-Saxon structure had been almost entirely obscured or pulled down by a large post-reformation extension and the addition of box pews. According to former county archaeologist Alison Taylor the church was, "still serving the impoverished, disreputable and fast growing community of the upper town," when pew rents were abolished by the rector as part of the Anglo-Catholic movement to allow poorer people to go to church. Previously parishioners had needed to pay for their seats, forcing the less fortunate to the back of the church onto uncomfortable seats. St Giles' saw a considerable increase of life and attendance. By the 1870s the old church had become completely dilapidated and unsuitable for worship. A new building was planned incorporating elements from the previous church located to the south of the current site.
St Giles' Grade II* listed status is largely due to its post-1875 alterations. Historic England describes it as being "of outstanding quality by virtue of its collection of medieval and C18 survivals, together with C19 fittings by many of England's leading church decorators". Although Taylor described the 1875 exterior as "a monstrously large building in a high church tradition", the interior was lavishly decorated in the style favoured by the Oxford Revival. Sir Charles Kempe and Sir Ninian Comper were commissioned to provide much of the design work still evident inside. Today the church still houses works after Michelangelo and a copy of Chatsworth House version of the Adoration of the Magi by Paolo Veronese. Much of the wood carvings were supplied in the late 19th century by Bavarian wood-carvers from Oberammergau.
Church. Rebuilt in 1875 from the design of Messrs. Healey of Bradford incorporating elements from the church previously on the site. Reset between the South Chapel and South aisle is the early C12 chancel arch from the former church and a late C12 doorway has been reset between the North aisle and the Vestry. In the South Chapel is reset a good mural monument to Nicholas Carre (MD. 1568). There is also a monument to William Wilkins the elder, 1815, the Communion Rails are early C18 and come from the English Church in Rotterdam.
Of outstanding quality by virtue of its collection of medieval and C18 survivals, together with C19 fittings by many of England's leading church decorators.