Church of St Philip and St Jacob

Church of St Philip and St Jacob

This is a Grade II* listed church on Tower Hill, Bristol. It originated in the early 13th century with a chancel, nave and lower tower. The mid-15th century saw the addition of a north chancel aisle and upper tower. The nave was altered in 1764 and underwent substantial refenestration and restoration in 1836 by the addition of north and south stair turrets to the nave and north porches. The building was restored in 1850 by William Armstrong.

The church is constructed of Pennant rubble with limestone dressings. The plan is originally cruciform, though the south transept now forms the base of the tower. The nave is unclerestoreyed with low, gabled aisles, a chancel and north chancel aisle, and two north porches.

The exterior displays Early English Gothic in the chancel and lower tower, with Perpendicular Gothic in the north chancel aisle and upper tower, and Perpendicular Gothic Revival styling in the nave. The chancel has a 19th-century five-light east window and a circa 1450 three-light window with ogee heads to the chancel aisle. The three-bay north elevation of the chancel aisle has windows at the east end separated by buttresses, a raised brick parapet and obelisk pinnacles of 1836, and a 19th-century porch with angle buttresses at the west end. The three-bay south side of the chancel contains 15th-century two-light square-headed windows with cinquefoil ogee-heads. The five-bay nave features tall 19th-century square-headed windows with two- and three-lights beneath trefoil heads and label moulds, with a projecting central stair turret with crenellated parapet and obelisk pinnacles. A 19th-century west porch has angle buttresses and a moulded door in a label with king's head stops and blank spandrels.

The four-stage tower is stepped at the upper stages with pronounced flat clasping buttresses and additional buttressing to the ground floor. A square stair turret sits on the south-west corner. A small 17th-century panelled south door has a four-centred arch in a slightly projecting doorcase with a drip mould above, and a large quatrefoil window with a hoodmould. A small lancet appears on the second stage, with paired blind lancets to the third stage having chamfered reveals and attached shafts to flared capitals. The 15th-century belfry has louvred two-light windows with a central mullion and a clock above, a crenellated parapet with pinnacles and a panelled octagonal spirelet to the stair turret. The south aisle has a smaller central projecting stair turret forming a full-height bay with a two-light window. The west end displays mid-19th-century three-light Perpendicular windows to the aisles and a similar tall five-light nave window with a band of quatrefoil panels, a hoodmould with unusual head stops, and a crenellated parapet ramped up to a centre section of two pinnacles linked by a trefoil balustrade.

The interior contains a raised chancel with a 19th-century marble-panelled reredos, three blind four-centred arches to the north with half-round shafts and a narrow soffit of trefoil panels, and the base of a winder stair to the former rood screen. The west pier is hollowed for a pulpit stair. The base of the tower has a tall blocked lancet with deep embrasures to the east. The arch to the south aisle has three attached shafts with stiffleaf capitals and an outer continuous arch. Vestigial ribs and springers with black marble shafts and stiffleaf capitals remain from a demolished vault. A pointed chancel arch and arches at the ends of the aisles have attached shafts to leaf capitals and outer continuous arches. Above the north aisle arch is a blocked lancet window with continuous moulding. The nave has a three-bay arcade of wide segmental arches with moulded square piers without capitals; alternate piers were removed and the arches probably altered in the 18th century. The nave features a fine waggon roof with bosses on carved corbels, similar corbels appearing in the south aisle. The north chancel aisle has an arch-braced roof.

The fittings include important Laudian items. A fine pulpit and sounding board dating to 1631 has a moulded octagonal stone base with a two-tier oak top of arched panels, a dentil cornice and caryatids at the angles. A fine square font cover dated 1623 has two tiers of open arched sides and a top of eight brackets to a finial, surmounting a Norman font with a square scalloped basin. A fine communion table is also present.

The memorials include a chancel tablet of 1722 by Gilbert Barcroft, originally commemorating his two children, with his name added after his death in 1754. It is a marble cartouche with cherubs holding drapes above a skull, alongside numerous late 18th and early 19th-century tablets. In the chapel aisle is a 14th-century head of a knight built into the wall and the upper half of a knight's effigy dated around 1470, described as having been "one of the largest effigies in England" when complete. A wall monument to Richard Nelms, who died in 1789, comprises a square base surmounted by a pyramid with a classical figure in a panel and drapes above. A similar monument to John Foyle, who died in 1771, has a moulded panel with balls on the sides beneath a pyramid with head reliefs, created by James Paty Junior. Four other marble tablets are present. At the west end is a large wall monument to Henry Merrett, who died in 1692, a marble aedicule with barleysugar columns and Corinthian capitals, a swan-neck pediment containing a swagged segmental plinth and cartouche, and a half-figure within an oval wreath with skulls beneath and an apron. Various hatchments appear in the nave, a book of the Ten Commandments dated around 1700 stands above the tower door, and a carved coat of arms of Queen Anne sits above the west porch. A Day memorial window dates to 1856.

The church has eight bells dating from 1789. The projecting nave wings were built in 1836 to contain staircases to galleries, which were removed in 1876. A south-east extension was built in 1986.