St Giles' Church, Wrexham

A chapel in this area is believed to have been founded by the Celtic saint Silin (also known as 'Silyn'). A reference in 1620 to a piece of land called Erw Saint Silin (‘St Silin’s acre’) in the township of Acton in Wrexham Parish, highlights the saint's importance in the area. Both 'Silin' and 'Giles' can be translated into Latin as Aegidius and by 1494 the Church was known as 'Saint Giles'. There may have been a church in the city as far back as the 11th century and the present church is likely the third to have been built on the site. The earliest reference to the church was 1220 when the Bishop of St Asaph gave the monks of Valle Crucis in Llangollen 'half of the [income of the] church ' of the town of Wrexham. In 1247, Madoc ap Gruffydd, Prince of Powys, bestowed upon the monks of Valle Crucis the patronage of the church of Wrexham. In 1330, the church tower was blown down by severe gales which resulted in a new church being rebuilt on the site in the decorated style, some features of which form the basis of the outline of the nave and aisles of the current 15th century building. Either in 1457 or 1463, the church was gutted by fire and work on the present building was started on the same site and incorporated some features of the 14th century church, such as the octagonal pillars. The main part of St Giles was built between the end of the 15th and early part of the 16th century. The magnificent ornamentation is rich in dynastic Tudor symbolism and was likely financed by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII and wife of Thomas Stanley whose family had strong connections with the Wrexham area. In 1643, during the English Civil War, soldiers of the Parliamentary army destroyed the original organ which was referred to as 'Ye fayrest organes in Europe'. In the 18th century, the church was depicted by JMW Turner and described by Samuel Johnson as a 'very large and magnificent church'. Part of the church used to be Wrexham's first fire station. As there were no fire appliances, people would run from the then town to collect ropes, water, and ladders and would run back. In 2012, wrexham.com placed a webcam pointed at St Giles giving a live view of the church. June 2012 saw a beacon being lit on top of St Giles as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. In 2015, a rare first edition King James Bible from 1611 was rediscovered after centuries of storage in the church. == Architecture and artworks ==

The richly decorated five-stage tower, 135-feet high, with its four striking hexagonal turrets, was begun in 1506 and is ascribed to William Hart of Bristol. An example of the Somerset type, it contains 30 niches and is graced by many statues and carvings including those of an arrow and a deer, the attributes of Saint Giles. It is thought that the tower may have been an inspiration for Victoria Tower, at the Palace of Westminster. The nave arcade is in the Decorated style, and dates from the 14th century, but the remainder of the church is in the late Perpendicular style, and includes an unusual polygonal chancel, similar to that at Holywell, Flintshire, and an echo of the one in the contemporary Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey. Above the present chancel arch are large parts of an early 16th-century Doom painting, and the arch beneath shows striking evidence of the tracery which one filled it. The interior of the church contains notable carvings and statuary dating from the 14th century and the 16th century camberbeam wooden roof is adorned with wooden polychrome angels playing musical instruments. The church contains numerous monuments, including an elaborate sculptured memorial by Roubiliac. The brass eagle lectern was presented to the church in 1524. The lyrics of the Evangelical hymn "From Greenland's Icy Mountains", written by Reginald Heber, are etched on a window. The hymn was both composed and first performed at the Church in 1819. and also made gates at Sandringham House, and at Leeswood Hall, near Mold, Flintshire. Since 2012, the church's interior has been re-ordered to include a re-modelling of the Chancel as St David's Chapel, and its north aisle is the home of the regimental chapel of the Royal Welch Fusiliers (now part of the Royal Welsh Regiment). ==Clock and chimes==

In 1735 a clock and chimes were donated by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 3rd Baronet. This required substantial repairs in 1855 to re-instate the chiming mechanism at a cost of £47. This was replaced by a new clock and chimes installed by Gillett and Bland of Croydon and set going on 2 March 1878 at a cost of £532 ().. An additional £150 was spent with Taylor and Co of Loughborough to rehang the bells. The clock was fixed in the tower just below the bells to strike the hours on the tenor bell. The Cambridge Quarters were chimed on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th bells of the ring. Three skeleton iron dials of diameter projected several inches from the tower to avoid interfering with the architectural details of the tower. The figures, minutes and hands were gilt. The clock frame consisted of a cast-iron body long, wide and high. The movement was controlled by a double three-legged gravity escapement driven by a temperature compensated pendulum with a beat of 1¼ seconds and a bob of . ==Grave of Elihu Yale==

Just west of the tower is the grave of Elihu Yale, after whom Yale University in the United States is named. It is inscribed with a self-composed epitaph beginning with the following lines: {{Poemquote in Europe bred, In Africa travell'd and in Asia wed, Where long he liv'd and thriv'd; in London dead An unsubstantiated rumour suggests that the gravestone was stolen by the Yale University's Skull and Bones society and is displayed in a glass case within the society's hall known as 'The Tomb'. The grave is a Grade II* listed structure. == Folklore and culture ==

Local legend suggests that work on the church originally commenced at Brynyffynon but that each day's work was destroyed during the night and, as the day's work collapsed, a phantom voice was heard crying "Bryn y Grôg". This voice was taken to be a divine indicator that the church should instead be built on the nearby hill of that name. There was a local legend that Oliver Cromwell ordered a cannonball fired at the church tower during the English Civil War. The church organ is referenced in the late-Jacobean Beaumont and Fletcher play, The Pilgrim (1647), in which the stock Welshman declares that “Pendragon was a shentleman, marg you, Sir, and the organs at Rixum were made by revelations”. One of the most popular hymns of the 19th century, 'From Greenland's Icy Mountains' was composed by Reginald Heber on a visit to the vicarage and was first sung in public in the church in 1819. The church's tower is traditionally one of the Seven Wonders of Wales, which are commemorated in an anonymously written rhyme: :Pistyll Rhaeadr and Wrexham steeple, :''Snowdon's mountain without its people,'' :Overton yew trees, St Winefride wells, :Llangollen bridge and Gresford bells. The church's tower is mistakenly called a "steeple" in the rhyme. == Gallery ==

File:Wrexham church.jpeg|A 19th-century wood engraving view from the south-west File:Eglwys San Silyn Wrecsam St Giles Church Wrexham 35.JPG|St Giles' Church viewed from the north-east File:Turner, JMW, 'Wrexham, Denbighshire', watercolour.jpg|J. M. W. Turner, 'Wrexham, Denbighshire' (watercolour, late 18th century) File:Wrexham Tower dusk.JPG|'Wrexham Tower' of Yale University, US File:Sant Silyn, Wrecsam Parish Church of St. Giles, Wrexham, Wales 02.jpg|The face of the devil in the nave roof ==References==