There has been a church on the present site in Whittington since the 13th century, when worship was taken by the monks who walked over from the Friary at Lichfield. Saint Giles is the patron saint of beggars and lepers it is probable that the church was named for the medieval leper hospital at Freeford.
It is believed that the church was originally built in the 13th century of red
sandstone quarried in Hopwas Woods. The nave was rebuilt in 1761 following a fire, with the chancel being added in 1880/1881.
Sir Nicholas Pevsner, one of the most learned writers on architecture in the 20th century wrote: “The tower, largely medieval, the spire no doubt later, the nave of brick & the ashlar bays embracing the tower of 1761. Looking at the spire; it is easy to see that it has parts of different ages. The guttering bears the date of the 1880 restoration.”
By 1912, the church seems to have been in a sad state of repair. A letter from the Reverend Dumeresq Cohu claims:
“The tower, which is the oldest part
of the church, is perishing. The weather has eaten into the soft stone of which it is built and the bells cannot be rung, as the beams are unsafe. The plaster of the inside of the nave is falling off. A new heating apparatus must be put in and the whole of the interior of the church must be cleared and decorated.”