Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a church built in 1722, restored between 1852 and 1853, altered around 1878, and further enlarged from 1937 to 1940 by Sidney Eaton. It is constructed of ashlar stone with gable copings and some finials, topped with a slate roof that features a ventilator on the ridge. The church has a simple rectangular plan with four bays, and a modern chancel and vestry added at right angles to the east end.

Designed in a Renaissance style with some Gothic details, the building has a low plinth with a string course. The side walls are adorned with Doric pilasters between the bays and coupled at the corners, topped with a simple entablature that has a plain frieze and moulded cornice. Originally, flaming urn finials were placed over all the pilasters, but only those at the west end and east gable remain. Each bay contains a large round-headed window with a keystone and three lights featuring trefoil-headed tracery.

The entrance, which was originally located on the south side, was moved to the center of the west end wall around 1878. This entrance is flanked by Doric demicolumns, and the gable above breaks forward slightly to accommodate a modern bellcote at the apex. The gable and each side feature large square-headed five-light windows with trefoil-headed tracery. The addition at the east end has a hipped roof with a chimney and a semicircular apse topped with a domed copper roof, but it matches the style and materials of the original building.

Inside, the church has been entirely modernized, although there is one late 18th-century memorial tablet on the north wall. Historically, the church was built on the site of a 16th-century chapel that had fallen into disrepair due to a late 17th-century dispute over ownership between the Vicar of Blackburn and a local Nonconformist congregation, which built the Lower Chapel in 1719. The church suffered damage from mining subsidence in 1851.