Church Of St James The Great

The Church of St James the Great, built between 1863 and 1865 by Robinson and Stephens, is a Grade II listed building located on Bacup Road in Waterfoot. Constructed from rock-faced sandstone with string courses and a slate roof, the church features a nave oriented on a north-south axis, a south-west steeple, a west aisle, and a chancel, all designed in the 13th-century style.

The three-stage tower includes angle buttresses, a three-light window, clock faces at the top stage, and a broach spire with belfry lucarnes on the cardinal sides. The gable of the nave facing the road has an arched doorway with two orders of moulding and a three-light plate-traceried window above. The nave's side wall, which is buttressed and has four bays, features a gabled porch in the second bay with a steeply pitched roof, a moulded arched doorway with shafts, and plate-traceried two-light windows. The chancel has two bays and a stepped three-light window on the east side.

Inside, the church has a three-bay arcade supported by short columns with moulded caps, a chancel arch with demi-columns, and an arch-braced roof. There is also a baptistery located at the base of the tower.