Church Of St James

SOUTHWARK

TQ3479 THURLAND ROAD 636-1/6/770 (East side) 06/12/49 Church of St James

II*

Church. 1827-1829. By James Savage. MATERIALS: stock brick with yellow stone dressings, pitched slate roof. PLAN: rectangular plan 2-storey church with tetrastyle Ionic portico to 5-bay west end, nave with clerestory and aisles, 8-bay elevations to north and south. Tower of 2 stages resting on abutment with stone quoins breaking out from clerestory at west end. EXTERIOR: stone portico to centre of west end has unfluted Ionic columns supporting architrave, frieze and dentil cornice with pediment. Corner pilasters rest on stone plinth; stone cornices with blocking course to aisle and higher clerestory sections. West end has giant panelled door to centre with stone architrave, frieze and cornice; similar lower doors in outer bays with stone panels above. Tall square-headed windows with battered stone architraves and leaded lights to aisles; 6 similar clerestory windows above to north and south in recesses with segmental brick arches. Tower has Doric pilasters to square-plan lower stage with a round-arched, louvred bell opening to each face; upper stage rather Baroque with groups of 3 columns at angles supporting urns. Spire above surmounted by gilt ball and spike with large flying gilt dragon weather vane. INTERIOR: altered 1965 with west end and aisles (with roofs sloping inward for stepped gallery above) divided off to create separate rooms. Gallery on square piers round 3 sides, with Ionic columns above supporting clerestory wall, the lower part of which is an entablature. From this paired columns rise to support cornice and are continued in paired beams across the roof; deeply coffered ceiling. Large paterae in roof bays to gallery. FITTINGS: organ by Bishop and Son, 1829, in round-arched western extension of west gallery. Corresponding, round-arched eastern extension for reordered sanctuary contains large painting of the Ascension. The most expensive of the London Commissioners' churches (they gave 17,666) with the parishioners also making large contributions to the total cost of 21,412.

Listing NGR: TQ3429379336