Views From A Trip Up St Giles Tower

A Wrexham.com reader was lucky enough to venture up St Giles tower today, and has sent us his pictures…

The opportunity to view the bell chamber and tower of St Giles Church came as part of ‘Open Doors’, a nationwide scheme which provides the opportunity for members of the public to visit historical halls, houses and churches. The events are organised by Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic environment service.

As part of the scheme, ten of Wrexham’s most popular landmarks are opening their doors to their public and offer the chance to see all the wonders Wrexham has to offer.

Following our article on the open times Mike Corris tweeted “Saw this online before and was immediately intrigued”, and true to his word Mike took the below pictures from his trip up the tower of St Giles earlier today.

He told us: “I was lucky enough to be shown the rope room where the bell ringers would be situated and then upstairs in the bell room where all ten bells are hung, the largest one weighing as much as a car!”

“Getting up the tower is NOT for the faint-hearted. About 160 steep steps up a very small spiral staircase. This was broken down by stopping off at the two rooms on the way up but still a tough ask for anyone not fit enough.

“The door to the roof was almost hilariously tiny meaning I struggled to squeeze through!”

The guide was also praised for giving great information about St Giles and its fabric to the group of around ten people.

The next opportunity to go up is on the 19th – with more details here.

All images ought to be clickable through to their own pages, and then through to a larger version of each.

Below is a selection of his pictures of and from the tower, starting from the very top with a closer view than you normally get to see!

Although from the ground the tower can look compact with no space for people on the top, however once up the scale is very grand.

Wrexham were playing Altrincham, with this picture taken just under an hour before kick off.

Wrexham’s new sheep were spied from up on high, with the mirrored curves making more sense in a wider visual context.

A different view of the town centre shoppers than normal, with the greenery of Llwyn Isaf in the background.

Island Green certainly has a very bluey / green impact on the skyline of Wrexham, with the local anecdote from someone involved in the planning stating they ‘didnt realise they would be that blue’ after seeing them in place…

The student flat monstrosity dwarves over the football ground, with initial plans having them even higher and if the development had completed it would have blocked off nearly the entire view of the ground.

Mike said he was told today “the stone faces around the roof were supposed to depict local residents of note at the time, you can decide how complimentary they are!”

Two shots below include one of the last remaining chimney stacks in Wrexham, this one on Tuttle Street and formally of Soames Brewery and then Border Brewery. Back in 2011 the then owner, John Marek of Labour, Forward Wales and latterly Conservative fame placed it for sale on eBay but after not being able to find the actual deeds it was not sold.

This is a zoomed shot of the top of the chimney, which as with most things is a fair bit bigger than you think!

When the open days were discussed in the Town Centre Forum, the Manager of Eagles Meadow joked that he would like to see a zip line down into the centre from St Giles, and this could have been the prospective view…

Although today’s event related to Cadw , they have previously rejected an attempt to list this iconic emblem of Wrexham, the hyperbolic paraboloid of the swimming baths roof. Demolition of the previously slated building has been stopped, as it has now been found to have several years more life than initially thought!

One icon of the skyline is this police station, which will be ripped down this time next year. There is much speculation to the site visible in this image, with the Peoples’ Market roof perhaps housing an open air cinema, and the site behind being redeveloped totally – with some locally speculating it could be an Eagles Meadow Version 2. Once the grandly titled ‘Masterplan’ is released to the public, we may know more…

The final image selected is a wonderful view across from Brook Street.

All images ought to be clickable through to their own pages, and then through to a larger version of each.

Mike said it is a ‘highly recommended trip to learn a bit about Wrexham history, even if you’re not a religious buff, with some views you just won’t get elsewhere.

The next opportunity to go up is on the 19th – with more details here.