"[1] The ancient parish stretched from Boundary Lane, just north of the present Albany Road, south as far as Sydenham Hill.

The Anglo-Saxon church on the site of St Giles', and recorded in the Domesday Book, was almost certainly built of wood and stood amongst fields and woodland.

[2] Numerous alterations and extensions took place over the next three hundred years and by the 18th century, the church was crammed with box pews.

On 7 February 1841 a devastating fire, caused by a faulty heating system and fuelled by the wooden pews and galleries virtually destroyed the medieval church.

Immediately after the fire, a competition to choose the architect for the new church produced 53 designs and was won by the firm of Scott and Moffat.

Appreciating his mistake, Scott paid for the church to be refaced with Portland stone which was more suitable for the London atmosphere.

Just over 100 years after the re-facing, stone began to fall from the spire and major vertical cracks threatened its structural integrity.

The Samaritans provided emergency relief and support for the large number of local homeless men in the area.

Ruskin visited a number of mediaeval French cathedrals such as Chartres to gain inspiration for his stained glass designs for St Giles'.

[3] On the North side is a plaque commemorating Charles Masterman (1873–1927), instigator of the National Health Insurance system (the precursor of the NHS) and his family.

In 2015, St Giles' Church embarked upon a major appeal to raise £500,000 in order to overhaul and restore the organ.