Former Church Of St James

The former Church of St James at Chignall is a medieval parish church with origins in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. The nave and chancel, which are joined as one, were substantially reworked in the 15th and 16th centuries. During the 15th century, the roofs were replaced and new windows inserted. The early 16th century saw significant rebuilding of the east and south walls of the chancel, the addition of a north rood stair turret, and the insertion of nave windows. The church underwent restoration in 1865, and the porches date to the 19th century. A former bell turret was replaced in the 19th century with a small stone bell cot positioned over the west nave gable. The church became redundant in 1981 and was converted to a house by architect Patrick Lorimer around 1989, at which time an upper floor was inserted.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with some stone and Roman brick, with stone and Roman brick dressings and tile roofs. The plan consists of a nave and slightly narrower chancel, a north rood stair turret, north and south porches, and the inserted modern floor.

The chancel contains a 15th-century two-light traceried east window with a four-centred head, a late 15th-century window in the north wall, and a 16th-century brick window of two lights with uncusped Y-tracery under a hood mould in the south wall. Similar 16th-century brick windows with two lights appear in both the north and south walls of the nave. The north rood stair turret is half-hexagonal in plan and projects prominently like a large buttress. The north porch was added in the 19th century, while the south porch, constructed of timber on dwarf stone walls, was rebuilt in the 19th century. Small dormers punctuate the nave roof.

The interior has been converted to domestic use, with a large timber spiral staircase inserted towards the west end providing access to the new upper floor over the nave. There is no chancel arch. The 16th-century doors to the rood stair, later adapted for the pulpit, have been preserved. The chancel roof probably dates to the 15th century and features trussed rafters with a tie beam at the west end. The nave roof, of late 15th-century date, now incorporates the inserted floor to create an upper storey. It displays carved and moulded wall plates and trussed rafters, with curved moulded braces on the central collar truss decorated with the crests of Stafford and Bourchier. The tie beam at the west end formerly supported the bell turret.

A 13th or 14th-century piscina rest survives in the chancel. A 19th-century pulpit and some 19th-century glass have been retained.

The presence of a priest at Chignall is documented in the Domesday Book of 1086, though it remains unclear whether this refers to the church at Chignall St James or to St Nicholas at Chignall Smealy. The living, always poor, was united with that of Mashbury by the early 19th century and was united to Chignall Smealy in 1888. Patrick Lorimer, the architect responsible for the sensitive conversion, is recognised for conservation work on churches and other buildings in Scotland and England.