Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating from 1835, with a chancel added in 1883. It was designed by Francis Goodwin, with later work by John Lowe of Manchester. The church is constructed of ashlar with a Welsh slate roof. It comprises a west tower, a nave with integral aisles, and a shallow, canted apse.

The partially projecting west tower has a wide western entrance within a deep moulded archway, above which is a two-light window. Gabletted clasping buttresses are present, along with a parapet above the second stage which originally held a clock (now removed), with high pinnacles at the angles. Flying buttresses support the octagonal lantern of the bell chamber. Vestries were added to the north and south of the tower, and a south doorway provides access to an inner staircase lobby. The aisles have six bays, divided by buttresses, each featuring a two-light, Decorated traceried window with cast-iron tracery. The shallow, canted apsidal chancel has two-light windows.

Inside, the nave arcade was originally five bays but the eastern bay now forms part of the chancel. The western bay, formerly beneath a gallery, is now separated by a glazed screen. Chamfered piers support moulded arches with foliate capitals. Galleries are present on three sides, spanning the west end via two rows of cast-iron columns. The ceiling is plain ribbed and panelled, with principal timbers springing from corbels. A chancel screen and rood loft, erected in 1920 as a war memorial, include a central, ogival arch surmounted by a crucifix, beneath a canopy decorated with vine scrolls. Flanking wall panels feature inscriptions and statues of Saints Michael and George. The apsidal chancel has a plain panelled ceiling, and blind traceried wall panelling includes sedilia and a canopy over the reredos. Stained glass includes an undated, unsigned memorial window dating to approximately 1880-90 and resembling the style of Kempe, along with smaller panels in a south chancel chapel depicting Saints George and Joan of Arc, incorporating architectural drawings in the background. Various windows in the south and north aisles date to the 1920s, one signed Shrigley and Hunt, Lancaster. A variety of marble wall tablets are present including an ornate memorial with high relief figures in traceried niches to the Rev. Robert Gooday, who died in 1878.