Former Parish Church Of St James

The former Parish Church of St James, located in Alveston, Stratford-upon-Avon, largely dates to the 18th century, but incorporates elements from the 12th century and a 19th-century west wall. The church is constructed of painted brick on an ashlar plinth, with red brick and ashlar dressings, and has a tile roof. It features raised brick quoins and moulded brick cornices, with ashlar-coped gables.

The east window has a three-centred head with lancet tracery. The south elevation features a blocked entrance with brick infill to the plinth, a pointed window with an ashlar surround and plain panel above, and three wall memorial tablets with worn inscriptions, one nowy-headed. A plain pointed west door has a plank door with straps and a lancet window above.

The interior boasts a tunnel-vaulted ceiling. A re-set 12th-century tympanum is set into the south wall’s entrance recess. It is carved with interlace motifs, flowers, a lamb, and a lion, and has two scalloped and fluted capitals. The fittings include a 17th-century panelled timber pulpit with an enriched frieze, cornice, and concave-angled panels. A painting of the 18th-century Hanoverian Royal arms is displayed on the south wall.

A memorial to Nicholas Lane, who died in 1595, features a recumbent effigy intended to be set upright. Other memorials include a tablet to Newsham Peers, who died in 1743 from wounds received at the Battle of Dettingen, made of veined marble with scrolls to either side, a broken segmental pediment with an armorial bearing, and an apron with a cartouche. Another tablet commemorates Newsham Peers, who died in the 1820s and his wife, fashioned from black and white marble with an armorial bearing above.