Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a Commissioners' church designed by Pickersgill and Oates from York, built around 1833, with additions and alterations made between 1874 and 1876 by R. Norman Shaw. During this period, the north and south galleries and the ceiling were removed. The church is constructed of ashlar stone and has a slate roof, featuring a west tower, nave, south porch, and chancel, all in the lancet style.

The three-stage embattled tower has angle buttresses that rise to form pinnacles. The first stage includes a doorway, while the second stage features a single light window with a clock face above it. The third stage has a single light belfry window. The five-bay nave is also supported by angle buttresses that rise to form pinnacles, with offset buttresses between each bay. Each bay contains tall pointed arched windows with hoodmoulds and a parapet. The porch, located in the first bay, has angle buttresses, pinnacles, and a parapeted gable with a pointed arched doorway.

The chancel, added in 1876, consists of two bays with single-storey side aisles that have three-light arched windows with hoodmoulds, a parapet with trefoils, and gothic capping. The chancel features two-light arched clerestorey windows with quatrefoils above, all under arched hoodmoulds, and a three-light lancet window on the east side.

Inside, the nave is wide and bare, without aisles, and has a queen-post roof. The tall pointed chancel arch is flanked by smaller arches leading to the aisles, with the south arch forming a memorial chapel for George Sowden, who served as Honorary Canon of Wakefield and Vicar of the church for 37 years until his death in 1899. There are arcades on either side of the chancel.

Furnishings include a carved reredos by Alfonso Noflaner from around 1934, created to celebrate the centenary. All windows feature stained glass depicting the life of Christ, mostly dating from the 1870s and created by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. A stone-carved pulpit is supported by marble columns. The rear gallery was boxed in around 1983 to create an enclosed vestibule and meeting room.