Church Of Saint James The Great

The Church of Saint James the Great is a church dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with a late 17th-century south chapel. The chancel is constructed of regular coursed ironstone blocks with a red tile roof and stone coped gable. The nave is built of irregular coursed ironstone rubble and coursed ironstone rubble, with a stone coped gable. A wood-shingled bell-turret, bearing a weathervane dated 1707 and a clock on its north face, is visible. The south side of the nave is banded with limestone. The chapel is of ashlar ironstone with a tiled roof and stone coped gable.

The church comprises a chancel, nave, north porch, south chapel, and south aisle. The south side of the nave features a lancet with lead cames, a pointed arched doorway with chamfered jambs, a hood mould, label stops, and a plank door; two lancets; and a two-light stone-mullioned and transomed window. The north side has a 19th-century gabled porch and a Romanesque doorway dating to around 1200, with a panelled door. A two-light sandstone Decorated window with a cusped head and lead cames is positioned to the left of the porch. The right end of the nave displays a four-light stone-mullioned window to the ground floor, a hood mould, label stops, lead cames, bars, and wrought-iron casement fasteners. Above is a gallery with two pointed arched windows containing Gothick glazing. The chancel east window is of three lights with cusped heads and hood moulds.

Inside, the church contains a 13th-century chancel arch and a 14th-century nave roof featuring a hammerbeam truss, collar beam, and curved braces. A piscina with a cusped head is also present. The south aisle has a two-bay arcade from the late 13th or early 14th century, with octagonal piers. The 17th-century chapel is divided from the chancel by a two-bay arcade of Tuscan columns and arches. Notable interior features include a Jacobean screen, 18th-century altar rails, a large box pew for a manorial family, and predominantly 17th-century pews. A three-decker 17th-century pulpit with a tester and a 17th-century west gallery with solid wood treads to the staircase are also present. A plain cylindrical font is complemented by a 17th-century front cover featuring ogee-shaped ribs studded with diamonds. The chapel contains 17th-century altar rails, 19th-century wall memorials to members of the Peach and Peach Keighley families, a monument to Heneage Legge dated 1759, and carved and painted arms of the Underhill family. Medieval wall paintings are found on the north wall of the nave.

The 17th-century chapel was added as a mortuary chapel for the Underhill family of Idlicote House.