Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating from 1909-10. It was designed by J. B. Bailey and Son of Keighley in the Perpendicular style. The church comprises a nave with aisles, a north porch serving as the base of a never-completed tower, a chancel, an organ chamber, and a vestry. It is constructed of coursed and dressed stone with ashlar dressings, and has slate roofs with ashlar coped gables and cross finials.

The west gable features two deep buttresses and a single, large, five-light pointed arch window with panel tracery above which sits a small gable bellcote. The south aisle has a small, segment-headed, two-light panel tracery window to the west. A pointed arch provides access to the south, followed by two segment-headed lancets, flanked by single two-light pointed arch panel tracery windows. The clerestory has four two-light flat-headed panel tracery windows. The chancel has a single lancet to the north and a low vestry/parish room with a single, two-light, chamfered mullion window to the south, and an off-centre doorway with a moulded hood and chamfered surround alongside a single light to the left and two two-light chamfered mullion windows to the right. The east end of the chancel is distinguished by two deep buttresses and a large five-light pointed arch window with panel tracery. The north chancel features a single lancet and a projecting organ chamber with two small chamfered windows to the east, and a three-light, pointed arch, panel tracery window to the south. The nave's north clerestory has three windows mirroring the design of the south side. The north aisle has two central, segment-headed lancets, flanked by single two-light, segment-headed, panel tracery windows. A slightly projecting porch, with diagonal buttresses (the left buttress forming the base of a corner turret intended for a tower), is positioned to the west, incorporating a segment-headed, deeply chamfered doorway with double doors, and a small two-light mullion window.

The interior features a four-bay nave with a three-bay arcade to the north and a four-bay arcade to the south. A wide chancel arch connects to single side arches leading to the chancel. The nave is topped with a queen post wooden roof with arch braces, while the chancel has a double hammer beam roof. Notable fittings include fine oak pews, elaborately carved choir stalls, a reredos with panelling including a carved priest’s seat, an altar rail, a carved oak screen to the organ chamber, and a carved organ case. There is also an octagonal wooden pulpit and an eagle lectern. To the west, carved oak panelling and an elaborate, coloured marble font with a carved oak cover are present.