Church of St James is a Grade II listed building in the Nuneaton and Bedworth local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 December 1947. A Medieval Church.

Church of St James

WRENN ID
ancient-gargoyle-heron
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Nuneaton and Bedworth
Constituency
Nuneaton MP: Jodie Gosling (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
6 December 1947
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St James, Church Lane
OS grid reference
SP 359 935
Coordinates
52.53883, -1.47122
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St James comprises a 14th-century north transept, now used as a vestry, with a chancel, nave, and tower largely rebuilt in 1733 at the expense of Gilbert Adderley. The church was later Gothicised in 1881 by Arthur Blomfield. The building is constructed of sandstone with Flemish bond brick dressings, and features plain-tile roofs with terracotta ridge cresting and stone-coped gable parapets.

The chancel is two bays long and has an east window with bar tracery and foliage stops to the hood mould, a moulded sill course and a two-light window on the south side and a one-light window on the north side, all with brick voussoirs. The south porch has buttresses and a doorway with two moulded orders, nook shafts, a hood mould featuring foliage stops, and a double leaf door. The nave has three windows with cusped Y-tracery on the south side, a similar one-window range on the north side, and a renewed traceried three-light east window to the transept. The west wall features two slate headstones; one dated 1734 commemorates Gilbert Adderley, who paid for the church's 1733 rebuilding, and another commemorates Thomas Adderley from 1757. A fine coat of arms is also present. The two-stage tower has clasping buttresses with gablets. The west doorway has a moulded outer and chamfered inner order, with a plank door and a hood mould with a head stop. The bell-chamber openings have cusped Y-tracery, wood louvres, and hood moulds with foliage stops. A rose window with Star of David tracery is located on the east side. The steep pyramid roof has lucarnes and a weathervane.

The interior is plastered and features moulded arches to the east window, attached shafts, and a decorated hood mould. It also contains a three-bay boarded barrel roof, a chancel arch of 1881 with half-octagonal responds and head stops, and a late 20th-century enclosed screen. The north arch of the nave is from the 14th century. The trenched purlin roof has chamfered tie and collar beams with braces. A font bowl from the early 12th century has intersecting blind arcading and a 19th-century stem. A hexagonal pulpit from 1733 has bolection and fielded panels. There are cut-down 18th-century panelled pews, late 19th-century encaustic tiles, and other fittings. Stained glass windows are by Kempe, located in the nave’s south-east corner, and a tower window of 1916.

Local climate

Church of St James receives an average of 760 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 66% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 69% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 36 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 65% of listed buildings. Of these, 18 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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