page_title: St Giles Church, Wormshill
section_title: Internal
hierarchical_section_title: St Giles Church, Wormshill / Architecture / Internal
caption_attribution_description: English: Blocked off doorway in the easternmost nave pier which originally led to the rood loft.
context_page_description: St Giles Church is the sole church in the village of Wormshill in Kent. The church is Anglican and is dedicated to Saint Giles. It forms part of the united benefice of Tunstall with Bredgar. The other parishes are Milstead, Bicknor and Frinsted and Rodmersham. The ecclesiastical parish of Wormshill is in the Diocese of Canterbury and the Sittingbourne deanery. It is a Grade II listed building, English Heritage number 1060971.
context_section_description: The chancel is 13th century, without a plinth.  It is narrower and lower than the nave.  The east window is of 15th- or late 14th-century work with later restorations.  It shows a flying angle crowning the Virgin Mary with Jesus watching.  The chancel arch dates from the 19th-century restoration.  There used to be a wooden rood loft at this point which was reached from a stair in the north chancel.  The doorway to this is now blocked but is visible from the north chancel.  Under the loft was a 14th-century carved oak screen, a portion of which has been placed against the north wall.
  Continuing the north aisle of the nave eastwards is the 13th-century north chapel which apparently belonged to the Manor of Wormshill.  Whether it was originally the lady chapel is not clear, but later was referred to as such.  Close by to the chapel is a late 12th century chest with carved arch decoration.
  Major renovations of the church were in 1789 at a cost of £1,200, in 1879 (see below) and again early in the 20th century (1901). The building is constructed from flint in the Early English style.
  Following the renovation, prayer boards were commissioned from the village carpenter.  They were painted by J Martin of Tenterden and used to hang between the arches on the north wall of the nave.  At some point they were moved to the base of the tower
  
  In 1798, Edward Hasted described the church as:
  "dedicated to St. Giles, and consists of two isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end of it. There are remains of good painted glass in the great east window. Several of the family of Tylden lie buried in it.  In the church yard are some tombs of the Thatcher's, and for the Woods who resided at Northwood, in this parish and Bicknor."  
  The Tyldens were an ancient landholding family in the area for at least three centuries and William Tylden's memorial stone lies set in the floor of the north chancel, showing his date of death as 23 December 1613
  Samuel Lewis, in his 1831 Topographical Dictionary of England wrote of a "tower steeple and some fine remains of stained glass in the great east window."
  
  In 1852, Arthur Hussey described the church as having architectural features "certainly of a very early character" and further:
  "In Wormshill church the arches, which are pointed, appear to be mere perforations of the wall, the soffits being single, the angles not chamfered, of the thickness of the wall, flat and plain from one side to the other."
  In 1851 the church was said to have seating capacity of "140" with "afternoon attendance: 82" and, in 1879, architect Joseph Clarke undertook further restoration work.  This work was commemorated by the addition of a new stained glass window, in the possible Saxon opening, dedicated to Saint Giles which bears the date of the restoration (1879) as well as the name of the vicar, "H. Newport" and church wardens Tom Clements (who was at one time the village postmaster) and "H. Hudson".
  The font within the church is from the Norman era, possibly even Saxon.  The pulpit was described by the Sittingbourne, Milton, and District Directory 1908/09 as Tudor period but other authorities have described it as Jacobean.  It is hexagonal with a sounding board behind.  The front panels and sounding board carry incised decoration.
  A stained glass window dated 1879 in a small opening in the south wall depicts St Giles, holding a stricken deer, in keeping with the saint's story. Further stained glass includes the Northwood coat of arms, dedicated to a former landholding family in the parish.
caption: Blocked off doorway in the easternmost nave pier which originally led to the rood loft.
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