St. Giles The Abbot

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Farnborough (Kent)

Parish

St. Nicholas
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St. Giles The Abbot: 

The Church Building - Fixtures and Fittings

Reproduced from 'The Church Guide Book'

        The gallery at the West end of the church was built in the 17th century and had an upper companion gallery for the church musicians, which remained in place until 1846, the position now occupied by the organ pipes moved there in 1960.

The gallery and organ circa 1960

        There are several monuments to past parishioners on the walls of the church and the following are of special note.

        At the East end of the South wall of the chancel over the Victorian sedile is the monument to Thomas Brome who died in 1673. This is a large architectural tablet surmounted by a pediment and crest. It was sculptured by Jasper Latham, one of Sir Christopher Wren’s principal masons working on St. Paul's Cathedral.

        At the West end, is the tablet to Doctor Thomas Young, 1829, who was responsible for unravelling the mysteries of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. He is buried in the chancel in the family vault of the Maxwell family into which he married.

        On the South wall of the nave next to the gallery, is the painted board commemorating the Benefaction of George Dalton to the parish in 1566. Today, the "Rush Sermon" is still preached on the appropriate day, the floor of the nave being strewn with cut flags (wild Iris), leaves and other herbs.

        Almost opposite on the North wall of the nave, is the large Epstein-like bronze by Elsie March, a member of the local artist family, who made the bronze figures for the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa.  This is a memorial to Mrs. Kelly, wife of a former Rector. [see also churchyard].

        The Brass Eagle Lectern, from which the Bible is read, is a memorial to Sergeant Frederick Shells of the 34th  Imperial Yeomanry, Middlesex, killed at Senekal, South Africa in 1900.

 

The lectern

 

 

Elsie March bronze

 

 

The George Dalton Benefaction

        The font is the finest surviving internal feature of the church and dates from the latter half of the 14th century. The octagonal bowl, which has been badly cracked in time past, has eight different geometric panels. Five are made up of quatrefoils and abstract flower panels, and three chiefly contain what appear to be stylized human figures. The font was originally lime-washed and coloured, traces of which remain. The stem on which the bowl stands is of the Victorian period.

The font

Stained Glass

         The oldest stained glass is in the window in the North aisle and was made about 1860 to a design by William Morris. All the glass in the chancel was made in the first quarter of the 20th century, commemorating members of local families. The glass in the rest of the church dates from the 1930s to 1998. The most recent glass is by the pulpit.

        The original organ, given by Mr. Fox in 1886, has been added to over the years, as is testified by the plaques in the walls of the organ chamber and over the Rector’s Stall in the chancel. In 1960, the pipe work was separated from the console and placed on an upper gallery at the West end of the church, the two parts of the organ being connected by electrical wiring. The present two manual instrument was rebuilt in the 1980s.

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