Church Of St James The Great

The Church of St James the Great is a parish church located in Hanslope, with origins dating back to the 12th century, and further developments in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The church features a chapel, a four-bay nave, aisles, a vestry, north and south porches, and a west tower topped with a spire. Constructed from limestone, the aisles and nave have plain parapets and lead roofs. The tower, built in 1409 by Thomas Knight, the rector, was originally 200 feet tall but was rebuilt after being struck by lightning in 1804. It consists of five stages, with a battlemented parapet, crocketted pinnacles, and an octagonal spire that has three tiers of lucarnes.

The chancel is of Norman design, with an arcaded exterior on the south wall featuring five bays divided by tall shafts with carved caps. Above the arches is a corbel table adorned with carved heads. In the left-hand bay, there is a Norman doorway with a heavily moulded arch, alongside small Norman windows and a decorated east chancel window. The nave clerestory has six 14th-century windows on each side. The north aisle mainly contains 5-light 16th-century windows, with two Early English windows, while the south aisle has one Early English window and the rest are in the Perpendicular style. The aisles date from the 13th century, and the nave arcades are in the Perpendicular style with piers featuring semi-octagonal projections. There are 13th-century sedilia, a pulpit from around 1800, and a vault dedicated to the Watts family of Hanslope Park in the north aisle, dating from circa 1830.