Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a church dating from 1851, designed by Sydney Smirke. It is constructed from coursed squared sandstone with stone slate roofs and is built in the Geometric style. The church comprises a nave with a south-west steeple, a south aisle under a parallel roof, and a chancel with a south vestry. The three-stage steeple features diagonal buttresses, a weathered plinth and sill band, a moulded two-centred arched south doorway with set-in shafts and a trefoil to the second stage. It also has two-light belfry windows and a broach spire with lucarnes on two levels. The four-bay aisle has two-centred arched windows, each of two cusped lights with varied quatrefoils in the heads, and hoodmoulds with figured stops. The north side of the nave has similar windows, and a three-light west window with geometrical tracery. The two-bay chancel has a large four-light east window with reticulated tracery. Inside, there is a four-bay aisle arcade of short cylindrical columns with moulded annular caps and two-centred double-chamfered arches, as well as a similar chancel arch. Good stained glass is present in the east window. The church forms a group with the nearby lychgate and the Old Vicarage to the east.