Church Of St James

Church of St James

Parish church dating to circa 1300, restored and partially rebuilt in 1846 by Scott. Built in dressed sandstone with a plain tile roof featuring coped verges. The building is entirely Decorated in style and comprises a west tower, a 5-bay nave with side aisles, and a 3-bay chancel.

The west tower rises in 4 stages with angle buttresses, a cavetto moulded belfry string, and a moulded cornice supporting a plain parapet with crocketed finials. The pointed west door is decorated with ogee and wave mouldings. Above this is a 3-light window with a segmental pointed arch, wave and roll-moulded surround, and Geometric tracery with roll and fillet-moulded mullions. The narrow pointed windows of the third stage have partly destroyed tracery that appears to have consisted of 2 trefoil-headed lights with a foiled figure in the central spandrel. The larger belfry windows are similar in character.

The nave and aisles are largely 19th century in stonework, including the clerestory which was added by Scott. This clerestory features sub-cusped quatrefoil windows, a hollowed string above containing square fleurons, and a low parapet with moulded spring. The south aisle has buttresses at the bay divisions and diagonally projecting corner buttresses. Its windows are square-headed with quarter round-moulded openings and trefoil-headed lights, except for the 2 eastern windows which have ogee-headed lights and reticulated tracery in a slightly later style than the 2 western windows. The pointed 3-light west window displays early 14th-century style Decorated tracery with a roll and fillet-moulded dripstone terminating in carved human heads. The pointed east window in late 13th-century style features 3 trefoil-headed lights, Geometric tracery, and roll and fillet-moulded mullions.

The north aisle dates to the 14th century, slightly later than the rest of the building. It has buttresses at the bay divisions and predominantly 19th-century 2-light windows with square heads, though one surviving medieval window with ogee-headed lights, possibly mid to late 14th century, remains. A 19th-century door opens to the west, and 19th and 20th-century windows exist at the east and west ends.

The chancel has buttresses at the bay divisions and corners, each with trefoil-headed panels and crenellated cresting; the north-west buttress is partly obscured by the north aisle. A hollow-moulded eaves cornice runs around the structure. The north side features a pointed 2-light window with hollow and wave-moulded surrounds and Geometric tracery; the hood moulds terminate in carved human heads, and a scroll-moulded sill string is present. Beneath the north-west window is a segmental pointed tomb recess with wave-moulded surround, while at the east end of this side is a trefoil-headed recess or stoup. The south side, much restored, has 3 pointed 2-light windows, a 19th-century pointed door, and another tomb recess towards the east. The 7-light pointed east window dates to 1846 and displays Decorated tracery.

Interior

The early 14th-century nave arcades feature pointed arches of 2 chamfered orders springing from octagonal columns with moulded capitals. The high pointed tower arch consists of 3 segment-moulded orders. The chancel arch is high, pointed, and chamfered, springing from imposts. Nineteenth-century arch-braced collar roofs span the nave with arch-braced ridge pieces; the main braces spring from stone corbels. The aisles have 19th-century lean-to roofs. The chancel roof is similar to that of the nave and features a hollow-moulded corona with carved human heads and fleurons including ball flower. Well-preserved sedilia and piscina display trefoiled heads, finials, crocketed ogee hoods, and scroll-moulded strings above terminated with carved heads. Flanking the east window are a pair of image brackets with crocketed canopies. The sanctuary has 19th-century wall tiles featuring a fleur-de-lys pattern and vine leaf frieze.

Fittings and Monuments

A squat octagonal font dates to the 14th century. The chancel contains several monuments. Sir John Delves, from the later 14th century, is commemorated by a cusped and heavily moulded recess in the north wall with crocketed hood and finials; the effigy shows a knight with legs not crossed and feet resting on a lion. Edward Vincent, who died in 1622, is represented by a recumbent effigy. William and Anne Abnet, who died in 1628, are commemorated by a re-set brass. The north aisle contains monuments to Thomas and Mary Roylance from the early 18th century, featuring an aedicule with fluted pilasters and broken pediment, and to John Cradock, who died in 1656, represented by a chest tomb with black marble top and armorial engraving.

The east window is by William Wailes.