Church Of St James

Church of St James, St James Road

The Church of St James is a Gothic Revival church built between 1860 and 1862 by the architect Ewan Christian. A north aisle and vestry were added in 1880 by J O Scott, and a north vestry was constructed in 1912 by C M Oldrid Scott.

The church is constructed from roughly dressed, coursed Jackwood and Wadhurst sandstone with clay tile roofs. The plan comprises a nave, short lower chancel with five-sided apse, north and south aisles, a southwest steeple that also functions as an entrance porch, a southeast chapel, a north vestry and an organ chamber.

The dominant architectural feature is the southwest steeple, which displays the hallmarks of 13th-century Gothic design. The entrance porch houses a large south doorway with a moulded and foliage-carved head, nook shafts and a richly traceried glazed triangle in the tympanum. Unusually, the doorway is fitted with a cast-iron trumeau (central mullion) between the pair of wooden doors. The three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses and a demi-octagonal stair-turret on the west face with a demi-octagonal cap rising to just below the belfry stage. The belfry windows are small and shafted with shouldered heads and punched star decoration above. The spire features tall broaches, a tier of lucarnes in the principal directions, and a decorated band two-thirds of the way up. The west window is a five-light design with an elaborate, richly detailed traceried wheel in the head. Similar geometrical wheel designs appear in the heads of the three-light aisle windows. At the east end, the fenestration consists of a single-light window in each face of the apse. The aisles are set under their own gables. A large modern extension stands to the north of the church, providing a hall and meeting rooms.

The interior walls are plastered and whitened throughout. The nave and aisles are wide, creating a spacious feel, enhanced by modern skylights—three on either side of the nave. The nave comprises four bays with arcades featuring circular piers, moulded bases and very deeply carved foliage capitals characteristic of the 1860s. The arches are double chamfered. The chancel arch is similar but has short wall shafts to the inner order with scalloped corbels. The nave roof is of plain hammerbeam construction. In the chancel, the ribs of the apse meet at a central point. The northeast vestry of 1912 has a striking interior with a fine roof and is Arts and Crafts in character.

The original pewing scheme largely survives in the nave and aisles with shaped ends that retain their Victorian umbrella holders and drip-trays. The chancel has been refitted in recent times. A gallery at the west end is carried on moulded timber brackets with x-framed fonts. The wooden pulpit is mounted on a corbelled stone base and has panels with delicate fleuron ornament. The font is a copy of the famous example of 1823 by Bertel Thorwaldsen in Copenhagen Cathedral, a popular design for early twentieth-century churches. It depicts a kneeling angel holding a giant clam.

The church was built in the early 1860s to serve the expanding residential area of Tunbridge Wells. The town was noted for its strong Low Church inclinations, and the architecture of St James—with a wide nave and small chancel—clearly reflects this tradition.

Ewan Christian (1814–95) was a prolific church architect schooled at Christ's Hospital until 1829, when he was articled to Matthew Habershon. He broadened his education through continental travel in 1834 and subsequently assisted with drawings for the New Palace of Westminster competition. He worked in the offices of William Railton in London and John Brown in Norwich before commencing independent practice in 1842. In 1851 he was appointed architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. He gained a reputation for efficiency and completing projects on time and on budget. While his work does not generally enjoy a high critical reputation, it is usually very competent, as demonstrated here. His finest churches, notably St Mark, Leicester, and Holy Trinity, Folkestone, can stand comparison with the better churches of the nineteenth century.