Church Of St James

Church of St James

Parish church with 12th-century origins, partly rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries with 16th-century alterations, and restored in the late 19th century, possibly by George Gilbert Scott. The building is constructed from lias limestone rubble with sandstone dressings in some sections and sandstone ashlar in others, with a timber-framed bell turret and plain tiled roofs featuring parapets at the gable ends. The church comprises a three-bay nave with a bell turret, south aisle, and north porch, together with a two-bay chancel, displaying both Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic styles.

The nave retains 12th-century masonry in its north and south walls, though the west end was either rebuilt or refaced in a later period. The north elevation has two buttresses with offsets. The west end features a two-light 14th-century window, with two similar windows in the north elevation and one in the south. The east window of the north elevation has 19th-century tracery, whilst the west end of the north elevation preserves a 12th-century lancet window. To its left is a 12th-century round-headed doorway with a similar smaller opposing door in the south elevation; the jambs of both doors were chamfered in the 14th century. The small bell turret has rendered infill and square two-light louvred bell chamber openings, topped by a pyramidal roof with broad eaves and a cast-iron cross finial.

The south aisle, added in the 14th century, consists of two bays with a separate roof. Its east end window is 14th-century work, whilst the south and west windows are both 16th-century and square-headed, all measuring two lights. A stone chimney with offsets stands at the junction of the aisle and chancel.

The north porch is a 16th-century structure, gabled and timber-framed on low 19th-century lias limestone side walls. The posts and tie beams of both outer and inner gables are moulded and chamfered to form an ogee arch. The outer tie beam is brattished and the bargeboards form a cinquefoiled arch with an ogee head. The open sides of the porch are divided by three moulded wood shafts, and above, the wallplates are also moulded.

The chancel was rebuilt in the late 15th century and is faced with sandstone ashlar with a chamfered plinth. Two diagonal buttresses with offsets occupy the east end, and a further buttress with offsets stands at the junction with the nave on the north side. The east window is three lights, with two square-headed two-light windows in the north and south elevations. The south elevation features a central blocked doorway with a four-centred head and hoodmould with foliated stops.

Interior

The two-bay south arcade dates from the 14th century and was possibly recut in the 17th century. The piers are quatrefoil in section with hollowed re-entrant angles, moulded capitals, and pointed arches of two moulded orders. The 16th-century wagon roofs were formerly plastered.

In the chancel, defaced image niches surmounted by shields flank the altar. A pointed-arched piscina is supported on a pilaster with chamfered angles. The 17th-century altar table has spiral legs, mid-17th-century altar rails, and panelling made from former box pews. Choir stalls dating to approximately 1520 feature linenfold panels. A Jacobean rood screen with a brattished rood beam and widely-spaced balusters survives, along with probably 17th-century pews. An octagonal font with moulded base is also present.

The south aisle contains 15th-century tiles set on the west wall, a blocked piscina in the south wall, an image bracket on the east wall, a 17th-century altar table, and two parish chests, one of which is decoratively carved and probably late medieval.

Memorials include a wall memorial in black and white marble to Sir George Wintour, who died in 1658, featuring Corinthian columns and a coat of arms, located in the south aisle. In the chancel is a brass inscription tablet to Adrian Fortescue, who died in 1653, set in a 20th-century wooden surround.

The south and west aisle windows contain fragments of 15th and 16th-century heraldic glass. The east window of the chancel preserves a restored Crucifixus with the Virgin and Saint John dating from the early 16th century.

This small medieval church contains some fine 17th-century fittings and 15th-century tiles.