Parish Church Of St James

The parish church of St James is a building with a long history, dating back to the 13th century when the west tower was initially constructed. The chancel and nave were rebuilt during the 15th century, and a south porch was added around the same time. A north chapel was built in the early 17th century by Leweston Fitzjames, and the entire church underwent restoration in 1873, which included the addition of a north arcade and aisle.

The church is built with rubble-stone walls featuring freestone dressings, and the roof is covered with clay tiles, topped with stone gable copings and decorative gable crosses. The three-stage west tower has an embattled parapet with gargoyles. A late 14th-century west doorway has moulded jambs and a two-centered arch. The second stage of the tower contains 13th-century lancet windows with trefoiled rear arches on the north, south and west faces. The bell chamber has 16th or 17th-century windows with two square-headed lights on each side. The nave’s south wall features two 15th-century windows with three cinquefoiled lights, vertical tracery, moulded reveals, and a label with returned stops. A 15th-century south doorway has moulded jambs and a two-centered arch. The south porch, also from the 15th century, has a moulded, pointed outer archway, with responds featuring capitals carved with paterae and a label with head stops depicting a man and a lion. The chancel has three south-facing windows; two are 15th-century, each with two cinquefoiled lights and vertical tracery in a pointed head. The central window is a single trefoiled light with a square head. A doorway below has moulded jambs and a three-centered head. The east window is 15th-century, with three cinquefoiled lights, vertical tracery, moulded reveals and a label with head stops. The north chapel, built in the early 17th century, has an east window with three four-centered lights in a square head, and a blocked similar window in the north wall.

Inside, the chancel arch has panelled jambs and arch soffits. The responds have two attached shafts with moulded capitals and chamfered bases. The 13th-century tower arch is two-centered, with two chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner springing from short corbel shafts with moulded capitals and terminals. The 19th-century north arcade has Perpendicular-style piers. The roofs are panelled and boxed, dating to the 19th century. The early 17th-century north chapel houses two major painted stone monuments: one to Sir John Fitzjames (died 1625) and his wife Joan (died 1612), erected by their son Leweston Fitzjames; and another to Thomas Winston (died 1609), his son Sir Henry Winston (died 1609-10), and his wife Dionise (Bond) (died 1609-10), erected by their daughter Eleanor Fitzjames. The font is 15th-century, featuring an octagonal bowl with quatrefoiled panels and a patera on each face, a moulded underside, a plain stem, and a moulded base. Also present are Stuart royal arms from 1662, displayed on a wooden panel.