Church Of St James The Great

The Church of St James the Great is a Grade I listed building located in Snitterfield. It dates back to around 1300 for the chancel, with the nave and aisles built in the early 14th century, and a west tower added in the late 14th to 15th centuries. The church has undergone restorations in the 18th century and around 1860. It is constructed from coursed limestone with ashlar dressings and features old tile roofs with coped gables. The layout includes a chancel with a north vestry, a four-bay nave with aisles, and a tower.

On the exterior, the chancel showcases a moulded plinth, string course, and top cornice, along with angle buttresses. It has a renewed five-light east window and three renewed north and south windows, all featuring intersecting tracery in moulded arches. The Priest's doorway on the south side has a plank door and a moulded arch. The nave includes a clerestory with a parapet and two-light windows, while the aisles have windows with Y-tracery. The three-stage tower has a west entrance with a moulded arch leading to a plank door, paired two-light transomed bell-openings, a plat band, and a crenellated parapet with finials. There are also some 18th and 19th-century exterior memorial tablets.

Inside, the chancel features an 18th-century roof and a renewed double piscina. The nave has four-bay arcades; the north arcade has octagonal piers and stilted arches, while the south arcade has shafted piers with unusual capitals that transition into bell forms. The early 16th-century roof may have been taken from Fulbrook Castle, and there is a tall triple-chamfered tower arch.

Fittings include two stall fronts and two stall ends from around 1530 with intricate carving influenced by Renaissance styles, a communion rail from around 1630, 19th-century tiles, a pulpit from around 1730, and a good early 14th-century font with heads emerging from the underside.

Monuments within the church include 18th and 19th-century wall memorials and two 18th-century hatchments for members of the Earls of Coventry family. The stained glass includes a window by F Holt of Warwick from 1877 and a chancel window dedicated to the Smith family by Frampton. This church is noted for its unusual features and fittings.