Church Of St James

Church of St James

This is a parish church of medieval origin, comprising a 12th-century nave and chancel built as one structure, with a 13th-century west tower to which a 14th-century belfry was added. The south porch dates to 1639. The chancel was restored in 1863, and the whole church underwent restoration in 1867–9, with the porch restored separately in 1868.

The exterior is built of coursed and uncoursed yellow and grey sandstone rubble with grey sandstone ashlar dressings. The tower is limewashed and cement rendered, with a dressed grey sandstone belfry and parapet. The roof is plain tile throughout.

The tower rises in three stages. It has a chamfered plinth, string courses, a battlemented parapet with chamfered coping, and a pyramidal cap with weathervane. The belfry stage contains straight-sided arched openings with two louvred trefoil-headed lights and transoms. The second stage has arched openings with two louvred chamfered lancet lights, partly blocked to the west; a clock dated 1860 blocks the opening to the south. The first stage features a chamfered west lancet.

On the south side of the nave are three restored 14th-century windows with two trefoil-headed lights and Y-tracery, a small chamfered lancet off-centre to the left, and a tall 12th-century round-arched window high up off-centre to the right. A 12th-century round-arched south doorway lies to the left of the lancet, with one order of shafts with moulded bases and carved capitals (one showing stiff leaf ornament). The door is nail-studded board with strap hinges, inscribed "CW / 16 A 48 RC WB". The south porch is timber-framed with a chamfered stone plinth (raised at the sides to form a low cill). It formerly had open sides with turned balusters but now has inserted 20th-century glazing. It features carved scroll brackets supporting a moulded bressumer dated 1639, carved struts in the gable, moulded barge boards, and a pair of 19th-century gates with turned balusters. A blocked 12th-century south doorway or side-chapel arch lies in the centre of the nave, with the apex interrupted by an inserted 14th-century window above; it has chamfered reveals and a carved red sandstone stiff leaf capital to the left.

The north side of the nave has a restored 14th-century window to the left with two trefoil-headed lights and Y-tracery, a narrow 12th-century round-arched window high up off-centre to the left, and two blocked 12th-century round-arched doorways—one in the centre and one to the right—the latter with a large red sandstone tympanum.

The chancel has a double-chamfered plinth to the east and a parapeted gable end with a cross at the apex. On the south side are a chamfered lancet to the left and a two-light window to the right with Y-tracery. The north side has a two-light window to the left with Y-tracery and a chamfered lancet to the right. The east end contains a window with three stepped lancet lights under one arch, with a chamfered recessed stone in the apex of the gable above, said to be dated 1863 (though illegible at the time of survey in September 1985). Straight joints are visible between the nave and chancel in the north and south walls, and evidence of herringbone masonry appears in the north wall of the nave.

Interior

The nave roof comprises five bays with tie-beam trusses featuring cusped struts, collars with cusped braces and crownposts, and sets of three ogee-stopped chamfered purlins with two tiers of cusped windbraces. The chancel roof has four bays with a billet-decorated frieze and moulded arch-braced collar-trusses (the middle one also having a moulded tie-beam), pairs of chamfered purlins, and quatrefoils formed by cusped wind braces between. A 19th-century ashlar masonry wall divides the nave and chancel, featuring a billet-decorated tie-beam and panelled ceilure with quatrefoils. The 13th-century tower arch has two orders: the inner is hollow-chamfered and the outer is roll-moulded with a fillet. A 13th-century cinquefoiled piscina with chamfered arch and two quatrefoil-shaped bowls is present, along with a square aumbry to the north. The nave is plastered and the chancel stripped.

Fittings include a wooden reredos of 1868, 19th-century altar rails, a 19th-century eagle lectern, 19th-century choir stalls, a 17th-century octagonal wooden pulpit with primitively carved mermen in panels, 19th-century pews (some with carved initials and place-names, possibly reusing 17th-century material), and a stone font of 1868 in memory of the Reverend William Jones Hughes M.A. (died 1865). The font has a triple-shafted stem with moulded bases and chamfered capitals, a round bowl with chamfered top, and an octagonal wooden cover. A 17th-century parish chest is also present. Monuments include that of Chief Justice Leighton (died 1607) of Plaish, showing a figure stiffly reclining on its side with an arch behind, a strapwork cartouche above, and kneeling figures of family on the tomb chest. Several 18th and early 19th-century stone and brass tablets are also present.