St James Court

St James Court, formerly the Church of St James, is a large suburban church built in 1876 by Henry Woodyer and converted to flats around 1980. It is located on East Street in Farnham.

The church is constructed of dark Bargate stone with pale Bath stone dressings and slate roofs. The plan comprises a nave, south aisle, south transept, lower chancel, and a polygonal north vestry and choir room, with the entrance positioned at the west end of the south elevation.

The exterior displays a tall, narrow six-bay nave in the Early English manner. There is no tower or fleche, but gables are finished with small gable end crosses. The north elevation of the nave rises directly from the ground without a plinth and features single-light nave and clerestorey windows set in flush dressings. Above a shallow continuous cill band, circular recessed carved bosses appear between the clerestorey windows, set within flush polygonal dressings. A continuous triangular moulded cornice runs at the eaves, repeated throughout the church. The west end has a chamfered plinth below a large west window of five lights with flat plate tracery beneath a hood mould with figure stops and above a narrow cill band. A small shaped opening sits in the gable above. The aisled south elevation is treated similarly to the north, but with a pronounced continuous hood mould over the aisle windows and the same triangular eaves moulding. The pitch of the aisle roof has been modified and roof lights inserted. The entrance at the west end of the south elevation has a restrained, simple chamfered arched head set within a taller cranked arch with a simple roll-moulded arris, all contained within flush stone dressings beneath a Bargate stone arch. The outer door reuses original ornate strap hinges. Moving eastward, the decoration becomes progressively richer and more three-dimensional. The transept features a two-light plate tracery window. The chancel windows consist of triple lancets beneath a continuous hood mould and a cranked continuous cill band. The east window comprises three grouped lancets with moulded shafts supporting hood moulds. The south-east angle of the chancel is marked by a tall, attenuated niche, while the east end is enriched with flush bands of the paler limestone. A small polygonal vestry and choir room adjoin to the north of the chancel.

The interior has been subdivided horizontally and vertically to accommodate flats, with stairs inserted at each end to access upper levels. The south arcade has piers with deeply moulded capitals in the Early English manner. Aisle windows are set deep within an arcade of flush rear arches with a roll-moulded cill. Some upper-level window embrasures have wide rear arches with robust engaged shafts and stone cills. Interior mouldings become progressively richer towards the east end. The soffit of the chancel arch is scalloped with pronounced bolster-like mouldings. Doorways to the vestries have cusped heads. Chancel windows feature annulated engaged shafts and cusped heads; on the east windows these are almost wave-moulded. The chancel has a side-purlin roof with cusped wind braces and a king post rising from a braced collar above purlin level. The south transept has a similar but simpler roof. Although largely concealed, the nave roof appears to resemble the chancel roof.

The chancel has been stripped of most fittings and is maintained as an empty space. The reredos is said to remain in situ behind protective boarding, and a pierced timber screen with coloured leaded glazing remains above the former choir seating on the north side of the chancel. The east window, by Hardman & Co, depicts Christ appearing to St James, the Transfiguration, and the Ascension.

The Church of St James was built in 1876 as a large suburban church intended to serve the working classes as Farnham expanded. Designed to seat 500 people, it was economically built despite its size. A tower and north aisle had been planned, the latter to accommodate the growing population and the former when funds permitted. The church was declared redundant in 1974 and was acquired by the local authority in 1979, when it was converted to 16 flats. It was listed in 1972, prior to its conversion.

Henry Woodyer (1816–96) was a pupil of William Butterfield and established his practice in Surrey in 1846, specialising in church design and restoration. His work ranges from St Martha, Chilworth (1848), the rebuilding of a Romanesque chapel, through village churches at Buckland (1860) and Hascombe (1864), to the imposing parish church of St Martin, Dorking (1868). His work is principally found across southern and central England, notably including the picturesque group of buildings at Highnam, Gloucestershire, set around his church of 1849–50. Domestic work included the enlargement and restoration of the seventeenth-century Evelyn family home, Wotton House near Dorking, in 1877. St James at Farnham represents a large and economically designed church by this accomplished architect, demonstrating a quirky interpretation of the Early English style.

The former church school, built as part of the scheme in 1878 and also designed by Woodyer in vernacular revival manner, stands to the east and is separately listed at Grade II.