Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating back to the late 12th century. It includes a 15th-century west tower and underwent minor restoration in the late 19th century. The church is constructed of squared, irregular coursed red and grey sandstone with limestone dressings to the tower, while the nave and chancel display rubble stone with dressed stone copings and rendered on the north wall of the nave. The nave has concrete tiles, and the chancel and south porch have slate coverings.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The nave has one 2-light Perpendicular window to the south, and two single-light windows added in the late 19th century to the north. The chancel features two 2-light Perpendicular windows and a doorway to the south, and a 2-light Perpendicular east window with a dripstone. A sundial dated 1698 is located below the eaves on the south-east corner of the chancel.

The west tower has three stages and a polygonal stair turret on the north-east corner, featuring diagonal buttresses, moulded string courses, an embattled parapet, a pierced cusped lozenge frieze, and crocketted pinnacles. The west facade incorporates a 4-centred arched doorway, a 3-light window to the first stage, single lights to the second stage, and 2-light bell openings with dense quatrefoil piercing on all three faces. The south porch is fitted with ironwork gates, and the south door features a Transitional round-headed arch with a diagonal fret, a crocket capital to the left, and a trumpet capital to the right, some of which retains original colouring.

Inside, the nave's chancel arch sits atop square abacii. A blocked Transitional arch with damaged roll moulding and an inserted section of Early English tracery is found on the south-east wall, and a trilobed cusped niche is on the north-east wall. A triple-chamfered arch leads to the tower. The nave ceiling is a coved plaster roof with a ridge rib and carved bosses. The chancel has a late 19th-century open rafter roof. A Norman font with scalloped undersides, a roped neck, and a moulded plinth is situated near the tower arch. A wooden Jacobean font cover is also present. Fragments of wall paintings dating from the 13th to 17th centuries are on the nave's north and south walls, the chancel arch jambs, and a decalogue over the chancel arch. The nave also contains 15th-century benches, a Jacobean pulpit dated 1637 with arched panels and strapwork, a tester, and a reading desk. A west gallery dated 1711 features Jacobean-style balusters and the coat of arms of Charles I. There are three 18th-century family box pews and 18th-century hat racks along the nave’s north and south walls. A south gallery exists from 1819. The chancel is equipped with an early 18th-century wooden reredos and a mid-18th-century communion rail. Two early 19th-century monuments commemorate the Rees-Mogg family on the nave’s north wall. The church was closed in 1980 and is now redundant.