A short history of St. Giles Church, Horsted Keynes
St Giles church, or part of it, is 900 years old.
The North aisle showing the font by the North door
The chancel with the altar and pulpit
The path to the church in June
The site of the church was probably a dolmen circle. Christian missionaries often
had churches built on sites of pagan temples and that may have happened here. There
are signs of an early Saxon church but the church as we see it now is a Norman one.
The orientation of the church is not east and west as is usual, but nearer north-east
and south-west, only a couple of degrees different from Stonehenge. It probably follows
that of the pagan temple. High ground to the east would make sunrise a little later
than the more level area of Salisbury Plain. At the time when the people of the settlement
adopted Christianity it is likely that the village was a collection of wooden framed,
thatched Saxon huts where the school is now. The church may have been wooden with
a thatched roof.. There is some evidence of some of the stonework in the tower and
also one of the doorways is of Saxon date. After 1066 the Normans took over and built
semi-circular arches. The remains of Norman windows can be found on the south wall
of the nave. The Norman church was of cruciform plan (a cross) with a central tower
and transepts to north and south, a nave to the west and a chancel or apse to the
east.
Most pictures are by Deryck Ford
