St. Giles, Cheadle
From the outside St.Giles Roman Catholic church in the English town of Cheadle in Staffordshire looks like any other church from the 19th century. Pass through its doors however and you are greeted with an astonishing, no expense spared, opulent recreation of a 13th century church at the height of the church’s power and influence. Every square inch of the floor is covered in hand crafted Minton tiles, every inch of the walls, pillars and ceilings are intricately hand painted and there is more gold paint around the altars (maybe even the real stuff) than you will ever have seen.
The church was designed by A.W. Pugin and is considered to be his finest work. It was commissioned in 1841 by the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury who lived in the nearby mansion of Alton Towers and who offered Pugin all the money he needed to create a masterpiece. He certainly fulfilled his commission and created the most amazing of churches.
I knew nothing of this church until a friend suggested that it might make a decent subject for a photograph or two and how right she was! No one photograph can do justice to this amazing church so, over time, I will aim to give it a feature of it’s own in my portfolio, I certainly have enough photographs to do so – keep checking in!
