Church of St James is a Grade II* listed building in the Liverpool local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 June 1985. Church. 3 related planning applications.

Church of St James

WRENN ID
buried-ember-larch
Grade
II*
Local Planning Authority
Liverpool
Constituency
Liverpool Riverside MP: Kim Johnson (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
19 June 1985
Type
Church
Address
Church of St James, St James' Place
OS grid reference
SJ 352 890
Coordinates
53.39431, -2.97477
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: related consents · flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St James is a Grade II* listed building, constructed between 1774 and 1775 by C. Bisbrowne, with the chancel added in 1900 by H. Havelock Sutton. It is built of brick with stone dressings. The nave features five bays and two tiers of windows, with sill bands and a cornice topped by a stone-coped brick parapet. The round-headed windows have flat architraves and impost blocks, although the western windows were blocked in 1984. The four-stage tower includes sill bands, a cornice, and an embattled brick parapet, with round-headed windows. The third stage has a three-faced clock above the windows, and the top stage has paired louvred bell openings. The west entrance is framed by a stucco flat architrave with a decorated frieze and a consoled cornice, which is now damaged as of 1984. Flanking porches were likely added around 1900. The chancel contains an organ chamber to the north and a vestry under lean-to roofs, featuring triple round-headed lights and an east window with round tracery.

Inside, there is a gallery on three sides supported by slender quatrefoil columns. The arch-braced collar roof includes pendants and wall piers with some corbel heads. The round chancel arch leads to a barrel vaulted chancel, and there is a round-arched opening to the organ chamber. The east window has stained glass by H. Holiday from 1881, while other windows are mostly broken, with the lower halves of some fitted with 20th-century louvres as of 1984. The church also contains several wall tablets dating from the 1790s to the 1840s and is said to have a 18th-century iron sword rest. Notably, the cast iron columns supporting the galleries are the earliest remaining example in Liverpool and one of the earliest examples in the country.

Local climate

Church of St James sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,080 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 86% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 75% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 9 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
  • Related listed building consents — 3 applications
  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

  1. Wall, Railings and Gates to St James' Churchyard Grade II 40 m
  2. 24 and 26, Upper Parliament Street Grade II 170 m
  3. Saint James' Cemetery Gateway to South End of Saint James' Road Grade II 178 m
  4. 3 and 4, Great George Place Grade II 200 m
  5. Saint James' Cemetery Lodge Next to Gateway Grade II 201 m
  6. No. 36, Upper Parliament Street Grade II 210 m
  7. Toxteth Public Library Grade II 229 m
  8. 40, Upper Parliament Street Grade II 275 m
  9. Former Higsons Brewery and former Grapes Public House Grade II 282 m
  10. 42, Upper Parliament Street Grade II 295 m