Old Church Of Saint James

The Old Church of Saint James, built in 1833 for the first Earl of Eldon, is a former church that is now redundant and was in the process of being converted into a house as of 1985. The architect was G S Repton. The building features rough ashlar stone walls with ashlar dressings and a slate roof with coped gables, some of which have parapets. The structure includes a nave, sanctuary, south transept, a shallow north transept, and a tower located north of the nave. The tower has a battlemented parapet and corner pinnacles, with single-light square-headed belfry windows that have ogee tracery. Similar windows can be found at the lower levels of the east and west walls. A plain pointed-arched doorway is located in the north wall.

To the east of the tower, the slightly projecting north transept has a parapet and three windows similar to those in the tower, along with one similar window in the north wall, west of the tower. The east wall of the chancel features moulded coping and shaped kneelers, with a 2-light pointed-arched east window that has ogee-headed lights and a small quatrefoil opening above it. On the south side of the chancel, a later vestry was in the process of demolition at the time of the survey, which included two 2-light square-headed windows with ogee tracery. The gable of the south transept is similar to that of the sanctuary and includes a moulded pointed-arched doorway with a quatrefoil opening above it.

In the south wall of the nave, there are two 2-light windows matching those in the south wall of the chancel. The west wall of the nave features a 3-light 4-centred arched window with perpendicular style tracery and ogee-headed lights, along with a small quatrefoil opening above. Below this window, part of a 12th-century arch with chip-carved diaper ornament has been re-set. Inside the tower base, there is an inscribed stone commemorating the building of the church. The original west gallery remains, while the rest of the interior has been reconstructed. Conversion work was ongoing at the time of the survey in June 1985.