Genealogy Chat

Records and Memories Tracing your Family Tree Many people are interested in genealogy. However we do not hold parish records in the Church. The Guildhall, London EC2P 2EF, however, holds Baptisms 1561 - 1961 Marriages 1561 - 1987 Burials 1561 - 1853 The enquiry service will provide up to three free parish register searches. [email protected] telephone 020 7332 1863 see also www.history.ac.uk/gh Memories of Times Past We are very happy to keep in touch with people who make enquiries about their family links with St Giles'. If you would like to tell your family story please let us know about it and we can link you with the many Friends of St Giles' through the Friends' magazine.

St. Giles’ is one of the few remaining medieval churches in the City of London and is at the heart of the Barbican development. It is said that there has been a church on this spot for a thousand years. We know nothing about the early Saxon church, which was probably a little chantry or chapel made of wattle and daub. In 1090 a Norman church stood on this site, built by Alfune who afterwards assisted Rahere in building the neighbouring church of St Bartholomew the Great. Sometime during the Middle Ages, the Church was dedicated to St. Giles, the patron saint of beggars and cripples. The word 'Cripplegate' has nothing to do with cripples, although no doubt there would have been plenty of cripples by the Cripplegate, wanting alms from travellers as they entered and left the City. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'cruplegate' which means a covered way or tunnel which ran from the town gate of Cripplegate to the Barbican, a fortified watchtower on the City wall. Sections of the wall can be seen near the Church; the foundations are generally Roman but higher up the structure is of varying dates as it was regularly strengthened and rebuilt. In 1760 the gate, up to then used as a storehouse and a prison, was sold to a carpenter in Coleman Street for £91. The Church was outside the wall at the Cripplegate, hence 'St. Giles without'. As the population of the parish increased, the church was enlarged and was rebuilt in the perpendicular style in 1394 during the reign of Richard II. It has been extensively restored on three occasions after fire damage. The first fire occurred in 1545 in the reign of Henry VIII. The restoration plans of that year remained in Lambeth Palace, and were used in the restoration after the Second World War by Godfrey Allen. The church was built in the perpendicular, late Gothic, style that emphasises vertical lines, particularly in the window tracery. The spaces between the windows and between the columns of the arcade, are generous. The columns are slender with their thin, filleted, diagonal shafts. This provides a spacious, open, light church. The main difference between the present and the medieval church is that the separation of the chancel and the nave has become less obvious. There is now little to show the difference, except the corbels representing musicians which support the clerestory shafts of the original chancel. What appears to be a remarkably truncated chancel is just that, for the end wall was once extended further back. The church escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666 but was badly burnt in the Cripplegate Fire of 1897 and again during the Second World War. There was a direct hit on the north door in the summer of 1940, and in the following December the church was showered with so many incendiary bombs that even the cement caught alight. All that remained was the shell, the arcade in the chancel, the outside walls and the tower. The roof, the furnishings and most of the monuments were destroyed, but some valuable items were saved. These include Church Registers, which date from 1561 and are now in the Guildhall Library; two oil paintings of previous vicars, one of which, of Dr William Nicholls, is under the tower; our silverware and vestments; and the 19th century lectern, which you can see in the chancel, a memorial to Bishop Andrewes. These had been stored away in the muniment room, which was separated from the main body of the church by only a few feet but escaped all the incendiary bombs. On the right of the east window, part of the medieval church has been deliberately exposed for visitors to see. It is the sedilia where the priests sat and the piscina where they disposed of the excess communion wine. The tiles in the arch are of Roman origin. The floor was raised during Queen Victoria’s reign, when also the outside walls were surfaced with Kentish rag stone, one or two windows were altered and some stained glass was put in the church. Around the windows on the north wall the inside stonework has been left blackened to show the effect of the incendiary bombs.

The LMA wont hold the records for St Giles without Cripplegate, they are held at the Guildhall library. This is St Giles without Cripplegate site http://www.stgilescripplegate.org.uk/frmemories.htm It says Many people are interested in genealogy. However we do not hold parish records in the Church. The Guildhall, London EC2P 2EF, however, holds Baptisms 1561 - 1961 Marriages 1561 - 1987 Burials 1561 - 1853 The enquiry service will provide up to three free parish register searches. telephone 020 7332 1863 They have an email address on the site

You may get the exact date of marriage from the parish records (I would expect Pallots to only give you the year). You might also get witnesses names, but I doubt they will give you father's names. LMA should have parish records, or you could order them from your nearest LDS Family History Centre (adresses on www.familysearch.org) Kath. x

I have an ancestor who, according to Pallots, was married in 1830 at St Giles Without Cripplegate, London. Is there somewhere I could find further information on this - would Parish Registers be any use? In which case, where would they be held - the LMA?