Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church built between 1871 and 1873 by Ewan Christian. It is constructed from snecked stone with ashlar dressings and features a Welsh slate roof with stone gable copings, red terracotta cresting, and a wrought-iron west cross finial. The church is designed in the Early English style and includes a chancel with a north organ chamber, a nave with a porch, and a choir vestry in the north aisle.

The exterior showcases a round chancel apse with four high lancets and a pent roof, while the nave has three south lancets. The north aisle features three lancets and an oculus enclosed in a relieving arch within each of its three gabled bays, with a wrought-iron grille over the eastern window. The west porch has double boarded doors with elaborate hinges set in a chamfered arch beneath a lower gable. The west elevation displays a high gable with three lancets on a sill string, flanked by prominent buttresses. The steeply pitched roof includes a ridge belfry near the east end, featuring square-plan open arches on a diagonally seamed metal base and a tall spirelet with swept eaves.

Inside, the porch has a scissor truss roof and double boarded doors leading into the church, which also features elaborate hinges. The nave arcade consists of short round ashlar piers with moulded octagonal capitals that support chamfered pointed arches. There are wide organ arches to the north and west of the chancel aisle, and the windows have chamfered rear arches. The nave has a keeled ribbed boarded roof and a ribbed dome in the chancel painted blue with stars. The aisle roof features scissor trusses, and a Gothic panelled wood screen forms the vestry. The chancel has a Gothic-style tiled floor.

Fittings in the church include a brass Communion rail on a wrought-brass panel balustrade, a painted stone pulpit adorned with dogtooth ornament, and a pedestal font with a large bowl. The pews have curved inverted Y ends and pegged seats. The glass in the east lancets depicts the Crucifixion, while the west roundel features a heraldic device of three shells. Other windows contain high-quality clear glass that was renewed around 1986.