Church Of St Philip And St James

The Church of St Philip and St James is a parish church dating from 1896 to 1902. It represents a rebuilding of a medieval church, undertaken by C. Hodgson Fowler. The church is constructed of snecked sandstone with ashlar dressings, and has a roof of plain tiles with stone gable copings, cross finials, and a bellcote. A porch roof is made of Welsh slates. The church comprises a nave, a north aisle, a south porch, a chancel, and a north vestry.

The main entrance is marked by a two-centred arch with a hollow-moulded, broach-stopped reveal, containing a moulded arch resting on half-octagonal shafts. There is a three-light window with perpendicular tracery to the left of the porch, and two two-light windows to the right. The chancel features three-light and two-light traceried windows, all square-headed. A large buttress divides two two-centred arched paired two-light west windows, and a three-light east window is set on a stepped string with a drip-mould. Aisle windows are also two-light. The roof displays overlapping nave gable copings, with a flat chancel gable coping on gabled kneelers; a gabled bellcote is on the west.

Inside, the walls are plastered with ashlar dressings. The nave has a king-post barrel-vaulted boarded roof, while the chancel has a painted wood barrel vault. A three-bay arcade features double-chamfered arches from the 13th century, supported by round piers with octagonal capitals. High square plinths were inserted to accommodate alterations to the floor level. A circa 1900 chancel arch is decorated with Tudor flowers on its outer chamfer and has battlemented capitals on hollow-chamfered half-columns. Similar chamfers are evident on the two-centred organ chamber and vestry door. The sanctuary floor is tiled. Low segmental arches, rere arches and alternate-block jambs are a feature of the north and south windows, with two-centred rere arches to the east and west windows. A 19th-century Frosterley marble octagonal font is also present. A Gothic-style memorial in stone is set into the north chancel wall, commemorating Rev. George Newby, who died in 1846; it is signed W.D. Keyworth, Hull. A white marble memorial slab on the south chancel wall commemorates Elizabeth Jane Wilkinson of Harperley Hall, who died in 1842, and includes two stanzas of verse. The windows, largely designed by Rev. Hodgson, incorporate portraits of donors; one depicts Hodgson and his wife with their house and church in the background. Medieval grave slabs are set into the porch, including one with a cross on a triangular base, one a half-slab depicting a leafy cross, and one with two crosses and sword and shears.