Church Of St James And St Christopher

CHURCH OF ST JAMES AND ST CHRISTOPHER, BELLHOUSE ROAD, SHEFFIELD

Parish church built between 1939 and 1941. The building is constructed of rustic brick with ashlar dressings and Roman tile roofs in the Arts and Crafts style.

The plan comprises a chancel, vestry, north-east chapel and transepts, a nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, baptistry, west porches, west tower, and stair turrets.

The chancel features a blank east end. To the south stands a flat-roofed vestry with four flush mullioned windows of various sizes, three buttresses on its south side, and a door. A square projection to the west has a 2-light window. The transepts have single 2-light mullioned windows with a small round opening above, and the south transept has a gable stack.

The nave clerestory displays three 4-light windows flanked by single 3-light windows on each side, all with flush mullions. The flat-roofed aisles have two 3-light windows in their centres and 2-light windows at their east and west ends, all with flush mullions. The north aisle incorporates an integral east chapel.

The flat-roofed west porches feature cable-moulded stone doorcases with panelled double doors and relief panels above. Both north and south sides have 3-light flush mullioned windows. The gabled west tower rises in two stages with shallow angle buttresses and bracketed eaves on corbels. A tall pointed arched recess to the west frames a tall cross casement and a pair of half-glazed doors flanked by small windows. The inset upper stage has 5-light bell openings to east and west, and a round opening in each gable.

Internally, the building is rendered with brick dado throughout. The choir and sanctuary feature a groin-vaulted ceiling with a plain pointed arch and a single transverse rib. The blank east end contains a pointed arched recess with a brick piscina and sedilia. A pointed arched opening on the north side connects to the side chapel. The chancel arch is spanned by a brick screen wall with slab coping, flanked by a canted brick pulpit and lectern enclosure.

The vestries are accessed via a cross passage with double doors and octagonal roof lights. The north-east chapel has a rendered cross beam ceiling and opens to the north aisle through an opening now closed by a glazed wooden screen dating from around 1980. A moulded stone recess on the north wall with a wrought-iron grille contains the Founders' book.

The nave is roofed with a built-up king post roof with struts and wall posts on corbels. Five-bay arcades with plain pointed arches and square brick piers span the width, with eastern arches opening into the transepts. The four western bays of the north arcade are enclosed with glazed wooden screens and doors, also dating from around 1980. The west end contains a pointed arched recess framing a tall segment-headed opening with a projecting panelled wooden gallery, beneath which a half-glazed double door with sidelights provides access.

The north aisle, now used as a meeting room, has four windows and a door at its west end dating from around 1980. The south aisle has a flat roof with span beams on corbels and five windows, with double doors at each end.

The central baptistry at the west end has a cross beam ceiling and doors on each side. Access to the gallery is provided by a brick and concrete stair. The flanking porches have octagonal rooflights and panelled double doors.

Fittings include a tapered octagonal ashlar font with a wave pattern, a wooden altar rail from 1976, and chairs throughout the interior with panelled screens at the nave's east end.