The parish church of St Giles stands at the western end of the village of Goodrich. The earliest reference to the church is in 1196 as the parish church of Castle Godric. Godric was the bishop of Winchcomb from 1054 and he owned the parish at that time. The church as we see it today has two aisles of six bays and is mid-thirteenth century, but there has been much rebuilding since. In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the nave was lengthened to the west and the chancel was given a two bay chapel, also the south porch and west tower were added.
The tower is unbuttressed with a tall octagonal spire. Internally of four stories the spire was extensively restored in 1884 and again in 2001. There are six bells also restored and retuned in 2008.
Inside the church there is some fine stained glass. Pieces of fifteenth century glass are incorporated into the east window of the north aisle and other windows were brought to the church from Goodrich Court when it was demolished in 1950. The linenfold panelling lining the walls is also from Goodrich Court.
Thomas Swift was the royalist vicar of Goodrich 1624- 1658, grandfather of Jonathan Swift, (of Gulliver’s travel fame) and his kitchen table and chest stand in the north aisle.
In the churchyard are the graves of Joshua Cristall, first president of the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters, Lieutenant Colonel Basil Jackson who served on the Quartermaster General’s staff at Waterloo and Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick of Goodrich Court whose collection of armour is now mostly in the Wallace collection and the British Museum.
References:
Anon., 2010. Herefordshire through time. [Online]
Available at: http://htt.herefordshire.gov.uk/smrSearch/Monuments/Monument_Item.aspx?ID=7312
English Heritage, 1966. Church of St Giles Goodrich. [Online]
Available at: http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-153810-church-of-st-giles-goodrich-