Old Church Of St James

TL 31NW STANSTEAD ABBOTS ROYDON ROAD (north side) Tarbets Hill 5/43 Old Church of St James

24.1.67

GV I

Church, now vested in Redundant Churches Fund. Nave probably C12, chancel without structural division C13, W tower and S porch C15, large NE chapel in brick dated 1577 in relief panel on E gable. Uncoursed flint rubble incorporating Roman tiles, C16 brickwork in NE chapel and E end of chancel, stone dressings. Old red tiled roofs. Continuous roof over nave and chancel. Short leaded spire with tiled lower slopes. Timber-framed S-porch with cusped original bargeboards, 3-centred arched entrance and crown- post roof on cambered tie-beams. C13 S-door of 2 chamfered orders, next window on W C13 altered in C15, when 2 2-light traceried windows were also inserted to the E of the porch. No openings but blocked doorway in N wall of nave. C15 crown-post roof of 3 bays plastered under the collars, continues over 2- bay chancel without crown-post on the cambered tie beam. Lower part of C15 screen built into pews. Chancel has C15 3-light E window, 4-bay N arcade on octagonal piers (3 western bays of 1577: E bay later). 2 2-light C15 windows in S wall, and a C13 double piscina. NE chapel has plastered waggon roof, Perp E window of 3 4-centred lights under a 4-centred arch, 2 2-light N windows (straight-headed under hoodmoulds), and a small W door. Tall 2-stage embattled tower with diagonal buttresses and projecting polygonal SE stair turret carried above the parapet. Early C15 tower arch of 2 moulded orders with shafted jambs and moulded caps. Contemporary W door of 2 moulded orders, the outer square, 3-light window over door, and 2-light bell chamber openings with quartrefoil and hood mould over. Fittings include C13 circular font on octagonal C15 pedestal, C16 2-decker pulpit (inlaid tester now door in tower screen), heraldic stained glass in NE chapel dated 1573, Royal Arms and commandment boards on E wall, 3 hatchments and a Tortoise stove in the Nave, medieval S door, head of tower screen said to be C15 rood beam, wall monument to Sir Edward Baeshe 1587 on N wall of chapel and painted inscriptions on N and E walls, brasses in chancel and nave, 3 bells of 1605, 1617 and 1790, 2 wall monuments by the younger Bacon (Paul Fielde 1805 and Robert Jocelyn 1806), tablets in nave including Philip Booth 1818 by Bacon and Manning, H T Baucutt Nash 1825 by Kendrick, Mary Booth 1848, and Sir Felix Booth 1850 both by Manning. Whitewashed interior with box pews and nave pulpit on S wall preserves the C18 village character. On a conspicuous hilltop site overlooking the Lea marshes. Of outstanding interest as a medieval church with unrestored C18 interior. (RCHM (1911) 209-10, VCH (1912) 371-2, Pevsner (1977) 342).

Listing NGR: TL3997211061