Church of St James the Greater

Church of St James the Greater

This parish church on Salamanca Street in Torpoint was built in 1817 as a chapel of ease for Torpoint, which was then part of Antony parish. The church was substantially altered and enlarged in 1885 by the architect William White, with a further single-storey addition made in the 20th century.

The original 1817 building is constructed in slatestone rubble with granite dressings and a slate roof with gable ends. The 1885 additions are built in snecked sandstone rubble with limestone dressings, with slate roofs featuring crested ridge tiles and raised coped verges with cross finials.

The nave, the only element of the original building, has a gabled west end with two weathered buttresses. A central granite doorway, probably relocated from a late 17th-century building, features a four-centred arch with moulded surround, spandrels and hood mould, fitted with 19th-century double doors and hood. Rising from the centre of the door is another buttress, which rises to a central niche with ogee hood, pilasters and acorn finial; a cross finial crowns the gable. The gallery is lit by cusped lancets to right and left, set in earlier window openings with relieving arches. At ground floor to the left is a single light in a bay with relieving arch over, and to the right a two-light window with relieving arch. The north side of the nave, divided into three bays, has two-light upper windows with reticulated tracery and relieving arches above weathered buttresses. Three blocked lower window openings are visible. The south side of the nave similarly has two upper windows with reticulated tracery and a weathered buttress. A bellcote at the east end has a pyramidal roof and weathervane. A clock is set on the gable end to the east below the bellcote, and the upper gable end is slate-hung.

In 1885, a chancel was added to the east end with a north chapel and south vestry, and a two-storey addition was constructed to the south-west for church rooms. The original building's Gothick-style windows have mostly been lost; the later 19th-century work is in Early English style.

The two-storey late 19th-century addition on the south has a door and single light at ground and first floor to the west; the corner wall is chamfered off with a hipped roof over and a single light at first floor. The gable end to the south has a pointed arched doorway, now blocked with a 20th-century window inserted, and a two-light pointed arched window with 20th-century glazing. A single light to the stair is to the left; at first floor, a three-light window with cusped lights and a lancet in the gable end. A chimney stands at the junction with the nave.

The chancel, built on a plinth, features a five-light pointed arched east window with a taller central light and hexfoil over the outer lights, a blind panelled lower section, cill string and a cross finial to the gable. To the north is a similar two-light window with stepped cill string; to the south, a two-light window with trefoil head and stepped cill string. The north chapel has a gable end to the east with a tall two-light window and cill string. Buttresses to the north are paired with cill strings featuring quatrefoils in limestone between them. A porch to the right has a ridged stone roof and a pointed arched door with strap hinges; a single light with trefoil head sits above. The south vestry has a south door with stepped string over, continued to the east as a cill string for a three-light four-centred arched window. A buttress to the south and parapet and coping are returned to the east, with a gable to the left featuring raised coped verges and cross finial. A three-light window with cusped lights and pointed arch and cill string is positioned on this gable.

The interior is accessed via the west door, which leads to an internal 19th-century panelled porch. The nave has plastered walls and a polychromatic panelled ceiling dating to circa 1930. A panelled west gallery on plain piers features a frieze of quatrefoils set in diamonds. The gallery has a recessed curve to its centre and formerly extended further to north and south. One window of the 1817 building survives internally, now to the south-west: it is a three-light window with cusped heads and upper tracery in cast iron. Recesses to the north and south mark where windows formerly lit the area under the gallery.

The chancel has limestone dressings and features a four-centred arch to the chancel and a narrower arch to the north chapel. The architectural arrangement creates the effect of a tower crossing, with similar arches between the chancel and the north chapel. All arches have corbelled and chamfered inner arches. A pointed arched east door leads to the south vestry. The hood mould of the north arch is continued as a string course at cill level for the north window and extended to the south window. The four-bay chancel roof features arched-braces rising from corbels, with one row of purlins and an upper collar, all ceiled. A pointed arched south door opens to the vestry; to the north is an aumbry with cusped head and gabled hood with pinnacles and a central trefoil finial. The western bay of the chancel has a similar roof. A narrower arch to the vestry is closed by 20th-century glazing.

The fittings include a late 19th-century wooden pulpit and plain bench pews in the nave. An octagonal limestone font stands in the nave. A late 19th-century reading desk in the nave has poppy head ends to the lectern.