Heritage Open Days - St Giles’ Parish Church, Killamarsh

About

Beautiful 12th century parish church with some interesting features and history. Magnificent stained glass windows, Norman font and tower housing 6 bells.

Visitors will have the opportunity to see displays showing the history and heritage of St Giles Church, with leaflets highlighting areas of interest in and around the church.

On entering the church, which dates from the 12th Century, they will be able to see beautiful stained glass windows, including one medieval window showing the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus and one which was the only war memorial in Killamarsh until the memorial on High Street at the end of Kirkcroft Lane was erected in 2011. Above the pulpit is a crucifix which came from the town of Oberammergau in Bavaria in 1900.

The town is famous for its Passion Plays held every 10 years. There is a Norman font, which has an interesting history, and a Victorian font outside the church, which was used from the mid-19th Century until 1944.

In the churchyard stands a Saxon preaching cross, near which, on the church wall, is a memorial to John Wright, a pauper. Further down the churchyard stand the village stocks, which remind us that the Lord of the Manor held court in church from time to time and the stocks were used to punish miscreants.

Copies of some old parish records and parish magazines will be on display and will be of interest to anyone wanting to find out about their families and life in Killamarsh in days gone by. There will also be displays from the Killamarsh Heritage Society showing life in Killamarsh in former times.