Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church built in 1849, with a chancel added in 1922. It is constructed from heathstone rubble with rubble dressings, and features ashlar dressings on the chancel. The roofs are slated and tiled, with stone copings at the ends, except for the west end and porch, which have crow stepped gables. The layout includes a nave, chancel, north vestry, and west porch.

The west window is a three-light design with mullions and a transom, featuring a triangular head. The nave windows are single-light with chamfered triangular heads and chamfered surrounds, set between buttresses that have two weathered stages. The chancel and vestry have trefoiled single-light windows and offset buttresses, while the east window consists of three graduated lancets. There is a pointed bellcote at the west end, covered with wooden shingles. The porch has a plain pointed arch, and the west doorway features a chamfered square head with continuous jambs, leading to a double, three-leaf studded plank door.

Inside, notable features include a pointed, moulded chancel arch with semi-octagonal responds that have moulded caps and bases. There is a 19th-century panelled entrance lobby or ringing chamber, and the chancel has a two-bay arch-braced collar roof. The nave features a four-bay braced king-post roof with tie beams and a single tier of purlins. The church also contains a 19th-century octagonal stone font with quatrefoil panels, 19th and 20th-century pews, and an open gridwork timber pulpit from St Osmund in Parkstone, Poole.

This church is noted for its simplicity and unusual design.