Church of St Philip and St James

The Church of St Philip and St James is a church built between 1842 and 1844, designed by Abraham Perkins, with subsequent additions and alterations. It is a building of group value. The church is constructed of rock-faced blue Lias stone with ashlar dressings, and has a roof of fishscale tiles.

The plan consists of a nave, a lower-ridged chancel, a south porch, a tower at the west end, and a vestry set into the angle between the north flank of the tower and the west end of the nave. Inside, the church retains box pews and a western gallery.

The tower projects from the west end, featuring angle buttresses with offsets. The upper body of the tower sets back through two deep offsets and is topped by a small, octagonal spire. The west face of the tower has a doorway above which is a tall lancet window. The stage above features a circular clock face and a louvered lancet opening to the belfry. The vestry, abutting the north flank of the tower, has four lancet windows grouped under a continuous hoodmould on its west front. A stair turret is located on the south flank of the tower. The nave has four bays with lancet windows separated by buttresses with offsets. The chancel has single lancet windows to each flank and a triple lancet to its east end. Plain parapets are supported by a corbel table to both nave and chancel. The gabled south porch has a chamfered portal that rises into the gable.

Inside the nave, there are five box pews on each side, with poppyheads to the bench ends and benches to the front. A gallery is supported by four columns, featuring a blind colonnade to its front. The organ is housed within the first floor tower chamber; the banked flooring of the gallery indicates this space was originally used for seating. The roof features tie and collar beams with arched braces and cusped angle braces. The chancel has encaustic tiling to the floor, designed by Chamberlain, and a prominent reredos with seven arches. The central three arches have richly-carved, gabled surrounds containing holy texts, including the Ten Commandments. Naïve paintings of saints on tin are paired on either side and appear to be later additions. The eastern window contains stained glass from 1850 by Wailes, as do the flanking chancel windows and those in the nave. The pulpit and altar are of artificial stone and are original.

Furnishings brought from a previous church include a font with a circular and faceted bowl, a painted panel of the royal arms of George III dated 1794, and wall monuments.