Church Of St James

Church of St James, Kilkhampton

Parish church with 12th-century inner south door, late 15th and early 16th-century nave, aisles, roofs and west tower, and 19th-century vestry. The porch was built in 1567 for John Grenville, and the east end was rebuilt in 1860 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The inner south door is of freestone; the tower is of slatestone ashlar brought to course; the chancel and aisle walls are largely slatestone ashlar with granite dressings; all roofs are slate.

The church is largely Perpendicular in style, though the inner south door is a fine example of Romanesque work. The tall, three-stage, battlemented west tower has setback buttresses with offsets, moulded granite strings and crocketted pinnacles. The west door has a moulded and recessed arch beneath a square-headed architrave with hoodmould and label stops, with quatrefoils in roundels carved in the spandrels. The west window displays Perpendicular tracery with hood mould and label stops. At the second stage on the south side of the tower is a 4-centred arched opening in a rectangular architrave. The three-light belfry openings have slate louvres under blind tracery.

The north and south aisle windows are uncusped 4-light openings under hoodmoulds with label stops, while the west windows to both aisles are 2-light with hoodmoulds truncated by tower buttresses (19th-century work). A small segmental arched south door leads into the Grenville chapel; it has a hoodmould with label stops and stone carved with the Grenville arms. Above the door is a cusped ogival statue niche flanked by armorial reliefs including the Grenville arms, probably recut.

A lean-to vestry on the north side has granite coping, a 2-light uncusped window and a narrow square-headed door with replaced lintel. Within the vestry is a circa 17th-century 4-plank door retaining strap hinges terminating in fleur-de-lys finials, a Suffolk latch with iron loop drop and cruciform backplate, and a key escutcheon. A shallow rectangular rood stair turret projects from the north side. The north door has a pointed, moulded arch with a 12th-century beakhead incorporated into a stone relieving arch above.

The east end, rebuilt in the 19th century, has clasping buttresses to the aisles and buttresses on either side of the east window. The east window is a fine 5-light composition, deeply recessed with moulded architrave, hoodmould and label stops, dating to 1860. The east windows of the aisles are similarly recessed and moulded with 1860 rectilinear tracery.

The south porch has a square-headed architrave and hoodmould with carved label stops. The 4-centred outer door is carried on engaged shafts with cylindrical, roll-moulded capitals. Above the arch is carved "Porta cell 1567". The porch has a 19th-century arched brace roof and slatestone with oak-topped benches stopping short of the inner door. The inner door displays four orders of carving carried on colonettes with waterleaf feet, with each order's soffit also carved. The inner order has beakheads holding a roll moulding with zig-zags on the soffit. The second order has zig-zag carving, with further zig-zags on the soffit forming an unusual design. The third order is similar but has lozenges carved on the corner between soffit and order. The outer order has zig-zags with roll moulding on the soffit. The colonettes have a variety of capitals including heads and pine cones.

The interior features tall seven-bay conventional granite Perpendicular arcades, each with two bays to the chancel. The tall tower arch springs from high-set moulded piers. Unceiled waggon roofs throughout are fitted with carved ribs and bosses, probably partly renewed. The chancel waggon roof is slightly lower, with angels carved at wall plate level.

The church contains a fine set of 16th-century benches with carved rectangular ends and moulded rails. The south aisle has 22 benches each with one carved end; the north aisle has 19 similar benches. The south nave has 16 benches each with two carved ends; the north nave has 15 similar benches. Carvings include symbols of the Passion, armorial bearings and Renaissance arabesques, many with unconventional borders. Those benches facing the chancel have carved frontals with some fine profile heads.

The 16th-century granite font has an octagonal bowl with a puzzling inscription in inverted Lombardic letters. A continuous frieze runs below the inscription; armorial panels are carved below the frieze, and blind panels appear on the stem. The north, south and west doors are circa 16th-century work, with the west door refronted on the exterior.

The organ was rebuilt in 1958, retaining 19th-century pipes and some good 19th-century carving. Numerous wall monuments are attributed to Michael Chuke of Kilkhampton, said to have been a pupil of Grinling Gibbons. All but two have been recently repainted. Those retaining earlier colouring include the monument above the vestry door to the Reverend John Coryndon, died 1711, which features Corinthian columns supporting a moulded cornice and segmental pediment, with drapery knotted around the columns and carved decoration of swags, skull corbels and kneeling angels. On the south wall of the Grenville Chapel, the monument to Sir Bevill Grenville, erected 1711, has Corinthian columns supporting a cornice and is flanked by panels carved with military trophies. The large Royal Arms of George II on the north wall and the fine Grenville Arms above the rood screen are also attributed to Chuke. A wall monument in the Grenville Chapel to Algernon Cartaret Thynne, died 1917, is signed by W Goscombe John, R.A., and comprises a marble tablet with bronze reliefs of Palestine and a bronze statue of horse and rider above.

The church contains many examples of good 19th-century glass, mostly by Clayton and Bell, including a fine east window and some important glass by the firm made in 1860. The churchyard contains numerous late 18th and early 19th-century good slate headstones with inscribed verses. James Harvey, visiting Kilkhampton in the early 18th century, was inspired by the "dumb monitors" as he described the memorials, to write his extraordinary "Meditations Among the Tombs", published in Meditations and Contemplations, 1745-46.