Church Of St James

The Church of St. James is a parish church largely dating to the 13th century, with a 12th-century door incorporated into its structure. A slightly later north transept was added, and the church has undergone 19th-century alterations, including roof restoration, with fragments in the porch dated 1883. A panel above the door notes "Restored in 60th year. Rev. J.G. Milner 1884." The church is built of mixed stone rubble, including coarse sandstone, with gritstone quoins, ashlar dressings, and a plinth to the transepts. It is roofed with Welsh slate and has stone gable copings. The church has a cruciform layout with a south porch. The gabled porch features an open, wide-chamfered pointed arch on moulded imposts and irregular-block jambs. Inside the porch is an early boarded door with strap hinges, set within a wide-chamfered round-headed surround under a dripmould continuous with the impost blocks, with half-pyramid chamfer stops. A sundial dated 1803 and a panel referencing the 1884 restoration are in the porch gable peak. A cross-incised grave cover is used as a quoin in the porch, with two others repurposed as a side bench; two more are used as quoins for the chancel. A priest’s door is located in the east wall of the south transept, set within a lintel of an incised grave slab. Protruding from the west wall of the south transept are a raised incised cross grave cover and a female effigy. The windows are largely lancets, some partly restored, including three stepped east lights. The north transept window is large, with a pointed arch and three elongated cusped lancets under a head-stopped dripmould. A three-light window from the late 19th century is in the south nave, and a single rectangular, chamfered light is in the west wall, beneath a corbelled embattled bellcote.

Inside, the walls are limewashed with ashlar dressings. The chancel has an arch-braced roof on corbelled wall posts, while the nave and transepts have stone-corbelled tie beams with four posts to collar. The 2-centred chancel arch sits on nutmeg-moulded imposts, and the wide 2-centred transept arches are also chamfered, with the north arch renewed. Internal quoins are visible at the north-east angle of the nave. The chancel contains a blocked north window with a trefoil head, with similar heads to the south transept windows. A trefoil-headed piscina with nail-head moulding is present, alongside a modern piscina in the transept. Aumbries are found in the chancel and south transept. Several medieval incised grave covers are set into the wall plaster. The font is a bowl on a roll-moulded pedestal. The east window is the work of L.C. Evetts. Part of a box pew remains in the north transept. A Gothic-style pulpit, dating to around 1880, features panels of Minton tiles, signed Moyr Smith, depicting scenes from the Bible and Pilgrim's Progress. A funeral hatchment is displayed in the nave.