At Wrexham, in north-east Wales, the church of St Giles raises one of the finest towers of the Welsh Renaissance — one of the 'Seven Wonders of Wales'. Its architecture teems with Tudor dynastic symbolism, a testimony of the Welsh rooting of the new royal dynasty.
A Tudor dynastic manifesto
The present body of St Giles was built at the hinge of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and its ornamentation is a veritable Tudor manifesto: the Tudor rose and the portcullis — emblems of the dynasty and of the Beauforts — are repeated on the exterior as well as the interior of the building. This profusion of dynastic symbols suggests that the rebuilding was probably financed by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII and a great religious benefactress. St Giles thus illustrates the attachment of the early Tudors to Wales, the cradle of their line: they sowed their emblems there as if to root their legitimacy in it.
The tower, a wonder of Wales
The jewel of St Giles is its great tower, begun in 1506 and completed in 1524-1525: 41 metres high, it rises through five storeys, crowned with hexagonal turrets adorned with statues. This tower is counted among the 'Seven Wonders of Wales', alongside the bell of Gresford and the wells of St Winefride. A masterpiece of Welsh Perpendicular Gothic at its apogee, it bears witness to the vitality of religious art at the turn of the Renaissance, just before the Reformation put an end to this kind of great building campaign. To see: the great tower of 1506-1525 and its hexagonal turrets with statues, the carved Tudor emblems (rose, portcullis), the clerestory nave.
Did you know?
The tower of St Giles has an American descendant: the 'Wrexham Tower' of Saybrook College, at Yale University (Connecticut), is a faithful copy of it. It was built in homage to Elihu Yale, the benefactor who gave his name to the famous university, and who is buried in the churchyard of St Giles. Thus, a Welsh Renaissance tower has spread as far as an American campus — a strange transatlantic voyage of a wonder of Wales.
Notes
St Giles' Church lies at Wrexham (Wrecsam); a working parish church, open to visits. The tower is one of the Seven Wonders of Wales. Hours to check.
Quiz
- Who probably financed the rebuilding of St Giles?
- Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother of Henry VII)
- The pope
- Owain Glyndŵr
- Which emblems adorn the church?
- The Tudor rose and the portcullis
- The Roman eagle
- The fleur-de-lys
- What is the tower of St Giles?
- One of the 'Seven Wonders of Wales'
- A lighthouse
- A military keep