Church of St James

The Church of St. James is a parish church largely dating to the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, situated in South Elmham. The church comprises a nave, chancel, south porch, south aisle, and west tower. It is constructed primarily of knapped and rubble flint, with sections of coursed rubble in the lower part of the north nave wall, and freestone dressings. Roofing is slate on the nave, lead on the south aisle, and old plaintiles with fishscale bands on the chancel.

The exterior features wide, stepped buttresses along the north and south nave walls, and a diagonal buttress to the east end of the aisle. A Norman doorway with a pointed arch, partly reconstructed with a double billet moulding, is located on the north side of the nave. The north wall also contains three traceried windows: one 3-light and two 2-light, all in Perpendicular style. The chancel has a 13th-century lancet window on the north side, two later lancets on the south, and a 19th-century 3-light east window with intersecting tracery. The south porch is largely a 19th-century addition, while the interior of the porch features an open timber roof. A flamboyant-headed niche with a projecting bowl is situated to the east of the porch door. The south door has a continuous moulding, with quarter-round mouldings to the hood-mould.

The south aisle, dating to the 13th century, features two Y-tracery windows and one Perpendicular, 2-light, square-headed window. The squat, unbuttressed west tower presents walls incorporating black knapped flint, a flat parapet with a frieze of trefoil stone panels set in flint flushwork, and a Y-tracery window on each face of the top stage.

The interior of the church was significantly altered in the 19th century, visible in the benches, lectern, screen, and chancel fittings. A Norman slit window is set into the north nave wall. A four-bay arcade with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches separates the nave and chancel; the western bay is wider and higher, with a stilted arch resembling that of the church of All Saints, South Elmham. A 12th-century font of Purbeck marble features worn blank arcading around the bowl, a central shaft, and four smaller corner shafts on a fluted base, with a later base below. A tall, suspended 15th-century font cover is also present. The arms of George III are displayed above the tower arch. At the rear of the nave, a section of a 14th-century rood screen remains, consisting of five lights, shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and a boarded base. A 17th-century square pulpit with applied panels, guilloche and other ornament is also visible. Part of the rood stairs is located on the south side of the chancel. A restored 13th-century angle piscina and remnants of sedilia are present, along with a verse inscription, dated 1601, dedicated to William Grudgefield in the sanctuary. Three 17th-century black ledger slabs commemorating members of the Green family sit in the nave. Fragments of old glass are found in the heads of the nave windows, and two figures, a man and a woman, originally from a 15th-century brass on the nave floor, are displayed on the north wall.