By far the most interesting object in the ward without the Walls is the Church of St. Giles, Cripplegate, which stands at the south end of Red Cross Street. It was built about 1090 by Alfure, who became the first Hospitaller of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; the building was replaced by a second church, towards the end of the fourteenth century, and this was burnt down in 1545. It was at once rebuilt, and escaped the Great Fire of 1666, and has remained substantially the same up to the present time. It is of exceptional interest in contrast with the uniformity of Wren’s City churches. In 1791 the pitch of the roof was raised, and during the latter half of the eighteenth century there was extensive restoration. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1181. The patronage of the church has been in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who received it from Almund the priest in 1100, or thereabouts, up to the present time. Houseling people in 1548 were 2440. This church is in the Perpendicular style and contains a nave, chancel, and two side aisles separated from the central part by clustered columns and pointed arches. The total length is 146 feet 3 inches, and the height 42 feet 8 inches; the total height of the steeple 146 feet 3 inches, that of the four pinnacles rising from the corners of the parapet of the tower 12 feet 9 inches. Chantries were founded in the church: By Richard Chaurye, whose endowment fetched £4 in 1548; by Matthew Ashebye, whose endowment yielded £9 : 7 : 8 in 1548. The King granted his licence to found the Fraternity of Our Lady and St. Giles, September 21, 1426; there were several chantries endowed here by John Bullinger, William Lake, and William Serle, and by William Grove and Richard Heyworth. [Illustration: _From a drawing by W. Pearson._ ST. GILES, CRIPPLEGATE ]