Saint Giles Church, Lincoln

A current student of architecture, visiting St Giles Church in Lincoln, UK, in the 21st century, may be surprised to see that it consists of an intimate intermingling of 18th century exterior decorative features and interior structures and fittings with exterior structural masonry materials that were made in the 1930s. All this on a plan and in a style that fits very well with an 18th century church rather than one from the period between the two World Wars.

St Peter at Arches Church used to stand near the centre of Lincoln having been built in 1724 on the site of an earlier 11th-century church. The land it stood on was required for urban development, which was part of a larger slum clearance scheme, and it was demolished in 1932. Material from the church was used to construct St Giles Church on the new St Giles social housing estate on the north-east side of Lincoln in 1936 (where many of St Peter's congregation were relocated). It has become locally known as "The Church Which Moved" but it was not the simple stone-for-stone story that many locals believe it to be.

The architect for the redevelopment was W. G. Watkins. The design and style of the rebuilt church is essentially similar to that of the old church, but it has been lengthened by one bay and, very significantly, it was rebuilt in brick for the structural elements. However, all the decorative stone dressings from the old church were used in the new church (in all the same positions in the new church), including numerous items of magnesian limestone from the quarries at Roche Abbey near Rotherham. The copper roofs were also re-used. All the stained glass in St Giles is 19th-century glass from St Peter's with all the 20th-century glass simply clear glazed. Internal columns and the fine church organ were also moved. The organ was originally built by J. Lincoln of London in 1794, and rebuilt by Cousans when the church "moved" in 1932.

The 7 church bells, installed at St Peter's in 1728, were moved to St Giles along with the commemorative peal board, which had been produced in 1756 and, as such, is the oldest in the country.

Unusually, for the Church of England, the building is aligned with the altar at the western, rather than the eastern end of the church. A suggestion is that it was intended that the door of the church would open towards the neighbouring junior school.

Whether one looks at this building as a relocated church or simply the recycling of materials from a demolished redundant church, the building is both fascinating in its history and attractive to look at, particularly the interior.