Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating from around 1150, with some 15th-century details and restoration work completed in 1884. It features plastered walls and a tiled roof. The church has a Norman aisleless nave and chancel, along with a small vestry at the west end.

Inside, the chancel includes a small niche on the north side of the east window and a priest's door. The round chancel arch rests on plain and chamfered abaci, with squints on either side. The nave contains two windows on each side with deep splays, and there are north and south doors, although the north door is blocked. A wide west door leads to the small vestry, and there is a shallow west gallery. The Norman font is a square Purbeck slab with arcading, supported by a drum and four detached columns, which was brought to the church in 1900 after being discovered in Winchester Close.

Fragments of wall painting can be seen, including a Royal Coat of Arms of Queen Anne above the chancel arch, parts of the preservations on the north wall, and a consecration cross. A wall monument from 1617 is located on the north wall of the chancel, opposite which is a fine tomb from the same year featuring effigies of William Waloppe and his wife, set within an elaborate classical surround made of marble and alabaster.

The exterior walls are covered in cement over flintwork, with stone dressings that include perpendicular cusped single lights in the nave and a Norman south door flanked by inset columns. The east wall, added in 1884, is made of flint and features corner stepped buttresses and a three-light geometrical window. At the west end, there is a small boarded bell-turret, and attached to the west wall, which previously supported a tower until 1810, is a small boarded structure with a hipped tile roof.