Spital Chapel Of St James

The Spital Chapel of St. James is a former chantry chapel that was converted into a barn during the Reformation and was dedicated for worship in 1914. It dates from the mid to late 12th century, possibly built on earlier foundations, with rebuilding in the 13th century and extensive restoration carried out between 1909 and 1914. The building is constructed of stone rubble and coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings, topped with tile roofs.

The chapel features a small chancel and nave. The chancel has a coped gable with kneelers and an east window with round-headed lights and renewed mullions. The nave includes a round-headed north entrance with plain reveals and a plank door, along with signs of a blocked 12th-century entrance to the left. There is an early 13th-century pointed-arched south entrance, which may have been relocated or reconstructed, featuring a moulded arch of one order with missing shafts but remaining shaft rings, and an inner keeled roll moulding, along with a plank door. To the right, there is a window with two pointed lights and a recess below, possibly a blocked entrance. The west wall was rebuilt in 1914 and includes two lancets.

Inside, the chapel has a 16th or early 17th-century tie beam and arch-braced collar roof with double purlins and some renewed members, with ashlaring in the chancel. The round chancel arch has impost bands, and the east wall of the chancel features a plaque recording the restoration. A 20th-century altar table with cusped arched panels and an altar rail on timber posts is present. Historical records indicate that a chantry or hospital was founded by Sir Philip Marmion between 1266 and 1275, and the building is believed to have served as a hospital during the Black Death in 1349.