URPoint Details
The Church of St Giles which Thomas Gray is reputed to have written his 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751)' under the Yew tree opposite the SW door. Note that 'yonder ivy-mantled tower' has been divested of its cover to preserve the 13th century structure.
Styles blend well from the 12th-16th centuries. The 14th century timber South porch with ogee-headed tracery, the 17th century heraldic glass in the Tudor Hasting Chapel, the dignified brasses and the exceptional survival of the base of a 15th century altar cross.
The Penn vault entrance is near the font. Gray is buried near the Hastings Chapel. A rather forbidding memorial sarcophagus on a square pedestal was erected further off in 1799.
Adjacent to the churchyard and manor House lies the beautiful grounds of the Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens.
- Type:
- Place of Worship