Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a church dating back to the 14th century, with a 15th-century tower and clerestory, and underwent restoration in 1886 and 1890. It is constructed of ashlar and dressed limestone, with lead and green slate roofs. The church comprises a west tower, a 3-bay aisled nave with a south porch, and a 2-bay chancel with a single-bay south vestry.

The tower is in the Perpendicular style, featuring a chamfered plinth and moulded band. A west door is offset to the north and has a moulded, hollow-chamfered surround and hoodmould. Above the door is a 3-light window with cusped, pointed lights and a hoodmould. Slit windows are present in the internal stairwell. Large iron clock faces are on the north and west sides. A string course sits beneath pointed 2-light belfry openings with louvres, followed by another beneath an embattled octagonal parapet with buttresses that rise as crocketed corner pinnacles. A recessed octagonal spire incorporates a weathervane.

The south porch is gabled and has a double-chamfered south door with a hoodmould. Buttresses between the nave bays incorporate square-headed 3-light windows with restored Decorated-style tracery and deep hoodmoulds; plainly-coped parapets top the structure. The 15th-century clerestory has 2-light windows with ogee lights beneath square heads, featuring a hoodmould with stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops carved as a head and animal. The chancel is narrower than the nave. A C14 east window of 5 lights with flowing tracery and a hoodmould is present, alongside a pointed 2-light north window. East gable copings have a cross.

Inside, a double-chamfered tower arch rises from chamfered, quoined jambs. Three-bay north and south arcades feature octagonal north piers and imposts with simple capitals, while the south piers are quatrefoil and have moulded capitals; both have double-chamfered arches. Arched recesses are found in the north and south aisle walls, with a C14 monument in the north recess. The original C14 east window of the south aisle has been preserved in-situ, along with an elaborate double piscina. The chancel has a double-chamfered arch on half-quatrefoil responds. Original C14 sedilia feature three seats divided by slender, chamfered shafts with moulded arches beneath castellated cresting. Among the furnishings is a carved reredos depicting the last supper, dating from 1900. Monuments include an effigial slab of a lady with a small daughter in the north aisle recess, and a brass to the east of the vestry door commemorating Mary Hutton (died 1662).