Church Of St James

SU 63 NW 6/5 31/07/63

WIELD UPPER WIELD Church of St James

I

Parish church. c1150, some C15 details, and restoration of 1884. Plastered walls and tiled roof. Norman aisleless nave and chancel, with a small vestry at the west end. The chancel has a small niche on the north side of the east window, and there is a priest's door, the chancel arch is round and rests on plain and chamfered abaci, and there are squints on each side. The nave has 2 windows on each side with deep splays, and there are north and south doors (the north blocked); there is a wide west door leading to a small vestry, and a shallow west gallery. The font is Norman, being a square Purbeck slab with arcading, resting on a drum and 4 detached columns (brought to the church in 1900 following its discovery in Winchester Close). Fragments of wall painting exist, including a Royal Coat of Arms (of Queen Anne) above the chancel arch, part of the preservations on the north wall, and a consecration cross. A wall monument of 1617 hangs on the north wall of the chancel, and opposite is the very fine tomb of 1617, with effigies of William Waloppe and his wife, set within an elaborate classical surround, of marble and alabaster. The exterior walls are cemented over flintwork, with stone dressings, including perpendicular cusped single lights in the nave, and a Norman south door with inset columns at each side; the east wall (1884) is of flint with corner stepped buttresses and a 3-light geometrical window. At the west end is a small boarded bell-turret, and attached to the west wall (occupied by a tower up to 1810) a small boarded structure with a hipped tile roof.