Parish Church Of St James

The Parish Church of St James is a church located on Church Street in Trowbridge, first recorded in 1125 and believed to have origins dating back to the 13th century. The current structure is a notable late 15th-century church that underwent extensive restoration by Manners and Gill between 1847 and 1848. This restoration included the rebuilding of the chancel, south chapel, both arcades, clerestory, and spire.

The church features a five-bay aisled nave, with the aisles extending to enclose a west tower topped with a recessed spire. At the east end of the aisles are large chapels known as the Wyke and Duke Chapels. The chancel is three bays long and includes a small clergy vestry on the north side. The building has battlemented parapets with pinnacles above weathered buttresses, which were renewed between 1926 and 1930. There are 31 large, crudely carved gargoyles of early date and ribald character that are quite prominent.

The church has a deep west porch, a two-storeyed north porch, and a similar but more ornate south porch. The spire features three bands of blind traceried panels and the tower is three stages high with crocketted pinnacles at the corners. The interior has been much restored, featuring a panelled nave ceiling with winged cartouches and niches between clerestory windows that have nodding ogee canopies flanked by coupled triangular buttress shafts. The arcade was widened in 1847, and there are fan vaults under the tower and in the north porch. The aisles and chancel have four-light window tracery, while the clerestory has three-light tracery. The chancel arch is adorned with festooned tablets.

In the north porch and tower, there are three notable 12th-century tomb slabs from the site of the castle, one of which is inscribed "puella noe Acelina." The church also features an octagonal late 18th-century font and stained glass predominantly created by Powell, Warrington, and Bull in the mid-19th century. George Crabbe served as rector from 1814 to 1832.

The Parish Church of St James, along with the listed tombs, the Old Vestry Rooms, and several adjacent properties on Church Walk and Fore Street, forms a group of historical significance.