Church Of St James

The Church of St James dates primarily to the 13th and 16th centuries, with a restoration undertaken in 1881 by W.J. Hopkins. The church is constructed of sandstone and lias in regular courses, with timber-framed gables and tower, and tile roofs. The building comprises a nave with an aisled west tower, a lower chancel, and a north porch.

The south wall of the nave was rebuilt in the 16th century during a widening of the nave, explaining the offset position of the tower and chancel. The nave features 19th-century Decorated windows; two 2-light south windows with deep splays, and similar windows on the north side, with a single-light window also present. The north doorway has a continuous chamfer, set within a 19th-century timber-framed porch. The buttressed chancel has 13th-century, plain and cusped south windows, a 19th-century 3-light Decorated east window, and a pointed and a small square-headed north window. The 15th-century tower has a stone base and incorporates aisles with pointed north and south windows, which have sunk spandrels and square labels. The west doorway is continuously chamfered. Above it, the close-studded framing features diagonal braces, simple 3-light wood-mullioned belfry openings, and a low saddleback roof.

Inside, the nave and chancel have 19th-century keeled-boarded wagon roofs with moulded ribs and bosses. A single moulded tie beam runs through the nave, while another marks the break between the nave and chancel through arched braces on corbels with pierced spandrels. The walls are plastered. The chancel contains a large triangular-headed recess and a segmental-pointed aumbry in the north wall. Reset corbel shelves flank the altar. Floors are 19th-century tiles, with richer materials in the sanctuary, and wood floors under the benches.

Notable features include a plain octagonal font on a square base, of medieval origin. Some pre-19th-century benches have square heads with chamfered edges, and later 19th-century benches have moulded edges and roundels with floral relief. The wooden pulpit is formed of two facets, with blind Gothic tracery and a cornice made of older woodwork, possibly from a 16th-century rood screen dismantled in 1693. 19th-century choir stalls have moulded edges to shaped ends, likely matching the nave benches. Two late 20th-century stained-glass nave windows were created by John Petts of Abergavenny.

The church has a 13th-century core to the chancel and nave, with a 16th-century widening of the nave. The 15th-century tower was built later. Restoration work was undertaken in 1881 by W.J. Hopkins, and substantial repairs occurred in 1962, including renewal of tile roofs and timber framing.