Gates

St Giles-in-the-Fields was founded as a leper hospital by Matilda, Queen of Henry I in 1101; it was dissolved in 1539 and its former chapel became the parish church in 1547. The present church was built by Henry Flitcroft in 1734.

St Giles churchyard now has two gateways, one on St Giles High Street and one on Flitcroft Street, but it was not always like this. The story seems to go something like this: In 1687 a brick arch was built on the High Street, with a carved relief of the Resurrection in the tympanum created by someone called Love, for the fee of £27. In 1800 this arch was replaced by the stone Leverton arch incorporating the Resurrection and then in 1865 this whole arch was moved to Flitcroft Street. It was probably at this time that the Borough of Holborn gateway was inserted into the High Street opening. In 1965, when the Borough of Holborn was incorporated into Camden, this gateway was probably upgraded in some way and the inscription added.