Church of St James

The Church of St James is an Anglican church located in Defford. It has a nave that dates back to the 13th century, a tower from the 14th century, and underwent alterations in the 17th and 18th centuries, with further changes in the early 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt in 1868, and the belfry was reconstructed in the late 19th to early 20th century. The church is built from coursed stone rubble with freestone dressings, while the tower is made of ashlar stone and features a timber-framed belfry. The roof is covered with plain tiles and has gabled ends with stone coping.

The church has a two-cell layout with a west tower. The nave features 2-light windows with segmental heads, and the north windows have been restored. The south doorway has a segmental arch with a carved female head used as a keystone and a hoodmould. There is a timber-framed south porch of uncertain date, and a blocked north doorway has been converted into a window. The chancel has lancet windows on the north and south sides, along with a three-light east window that showcases Perpendicular style tracery and buttresses with set-offs. The ashlar west tower is supported by diagonal buttresses and has a decorated west window with cusped reticulated tracery.

Inside, the church has plastered walls, and the nave is ceiled with old plaster and an exposed wall-plate. A moulded cambered tie-beam runs across the nave, and there are projecting buttress features with finials between the windows on the south wall. The Victorian chancel arch is supported by colonettes with stiff-leaf capitals, and a moulded corbel is located high in the west end of the nave. A gallery at the west end of the nave has a fielded-panel front. The round tower arch is unmoulded, and the nave roof features medieval collar rafters with cranked collars and curved braces. In the vestry under the tower, there are painted Commandment and alms boards. The church also contains Victorian furnishings and early 20th-century stained glass in the east window.