Church Of St James The Great

Church of St James the Great, Ocle Pychard

A parish church of the 14th century, with a tower probably of the early 19th century. The church underwent substantial restoration and the addition of a spire between 1869 and 1872 by William Chick, architect of Hereford.

MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTION

The building is constructed of coursed local sandstone rubble with freestone dressings, and has a tile roof incorporating bands of fishscale tiles.

PLAN AND EXTERIOR

The church has a rectangular plan comprising a nave and chancel under a single continuous roof, with a south porch, a west tower that projects partly inside the nave, and a north vestry and organ chamber attached.

The nave and chancel display Decorated style characteristics, though the walls show three distinct phases separated by vertical joints. The earliest section is the eastern part of the nave, which contains two pairs of cusped windows. The later section of the nave has a pair of cusped ogee-headed windows. The pointed south doorway of the nave has a continuous plain quadrant moulding and is fitted with a door having long strap hinges; it is sheltered by a simple porch with a timber-framed entrance. The pointed west doorway is set within a tall arch formed by the projecting tower.

The three-stage tower has narrow straight-headed windows in the second and third stages. Below these is a low continuous band of timber-frame bell openings, below which sits the copper splay-foot spire. The chancel, later in date than the eastern nave section, contains a three-light Perpendicular east window and two pairs of cusped south windows, together with a pointed priest's doorway. On its north side, a parallel vestry has a cusped east window, with the organ chamber set at right angles behind it. The continuous roof, embellished with ornamental tilework, is a striking feature of the building.

INTERIOR

The walls were stripped of plaster in 1869, exposing the stonework. The tower base is an exception, being of freestone that was always exposed, with a pointed tower arch dying into the imposts. The simple pointed chancel arch, by contrast, was originally plastered. To its left is a former rood-loft doorway. The chancel contains a cusped piscina. The trussed rafter roofs date from 1869, as do the floors, which are laid with tiles except for raised wood floors below the choir stalls.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS

The church contains two fonts. The earlier, brought back into use in 1939, is a plain octagonal font of uncertain date. The later font, of the late 19th century, has a round bowl with an inscription around the rim and a stem with attached shafts, though it is now part dismantled. The polygonal pulpit of 1886 stands on a stone base and features openwork tracery and a foliage cornice. Pitch-pine pews date from 1869, and the choir stalls, possibly re-used, have Gothic arcaded fronts. The east window depicts Christ with Saints James the Less and James the Great. The south window contains the unusual scene of Melchizedek King of Salem. At the west end are commandment boards and a benefaction board.

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

The medieval church comprised the nave and chancel, with a 14th-century piscina surviving in the chancel. The nave was later extended westwards, possibly as late as the 18th century. A tower of apparently early 19th-century date was constructed, to which a timber spirelet was added in 1872 and subsequently covered with copper in 1922. The spirelet was part of a comprehensive repair and restoration of the church undertaken between 1869 and 1872 by William Chick, from which period date the present windows, the pews, and the stained glass in the east window.