Church Of St James

CHURCH OF ST JAMES

A church of mixed date, standing prominently on Devizes Green. The 15th-century Perpendicular tower survives from the medieval building, while the body of the church was substantially rebuilt in 1831–2, probably to the design of John Peniston of Salisbury in collaboration with Benoni White, a Devizes architect. The interior was reordered by Peter Kent in 2008.

The church is built of coursed and dressed limestone with slate roofs, including leadwork on the south vestry and south porch. The plan consists of a west tower, a short three-bay nave with a west gallery, and wide aisles; the body of the church is almost square in plan. Low vestries occupy the returns east of the aisles, with the northern vestry dating to around 1932–7. The short chancel is constrained by Church Walk immediately to the east. The south porch, formerly a structural feature, now serves as a heating chamber.

The 15th-century Perpendicular tower is a fine composition of three stages, each marked by a moulded string. The base is strengthened by diagonal buttresses, while the upper stages are unbuttressed. The top stage displays panelled tracery arranged in triplets on each face, with only the centre panel pierced as a bell-opening. The embattled parapet features blind arcaded panelling and corner pinnacles, above which rises a weathercock on a tall rod with wrought-iron supports. The body of the church, rebuilt in 1831–2, demonstrates a competent and surprisingly accurate handling of Perpendicular Revival style. The aisles are lit by four- and five-light windows under four-centred heads, with pinnacles in relief on the buttresses and battlemented parapets with pinnacles on both aisles and chancel.

Inside, the three-bay aisle arcades are composed of piers with four shafts and four hollows set on high plinths, supporting four-centred arches. An irregular building break below the window cills in the aisle walls suggests that the old medieval walls may have been retained up to plinth level, though the medieval plan was not fully preserved; the original north aisle was narrower than the south and contained fewer arcade piers. The shallow chancel features a panelled vault. Within the tower is a Perpendicular tierceron star vault with a large bell hole. The tall tower arch has two concave hollows with a rebate between them. The ceilings throughout are curved and plastered, with coved wall plates decorated with fleurons, all dating to 1832.

The 2008 reordering by Peter Kent was undertaken cleanly and sensitively. Glazing was introduced below the gallery to create a vestibule inside the main tower entrance and a meeting room in the west end of the north aisle. A small room was also created within the tower at gallery level. The gallery was refronted in glass and oak and now houses a resited organ console. The Victorian pews were replaced with moveable chairs and carpeted flooring.

The south aisle east end is furnished as the regimental chapel of the Wiltshire Regiment, which was based at Le Marchant Barracks nearby from around 1878. It contains various fittings reflecting this association, notably a green marble tabernacle with two bronze figures of soldiers, containing the Regimental book of the fallen in the First World War. This tabernacle was made by Powell & Sons, Whitefriars, in 1921 at a cost of £145. Against the south aisle east wall stands a fluted cast-iron column, probably for fresh air ventilation and dating to around 1832, made by Shillito & Shorland of Manchester.

The principal fixtures include a Neo-Perpendicular oak pulpit of around 1890–1914. Good stained glass includes the east window by William Wailes, dated 1849, and the north aisle north first window from the east, by C.E. Kempe, dated around 1901. A large standing wall monument in white, grey and black marble commemorates Bridget Nicholas of Ashton Keynes, died 1752, with no figure decoration but a triptych inscription flanked by Ionic columns with a flat entablature. A tablet by John Hancock of London commemorates Edward Colston, died 1859, and depicts two putti raising a reclining boy by the arm from his deathbed while three siblings kneel in mourning.

The church occupies a prominent position on Devizes Green, particularly striking when viewed from the west with the pond known as the Crammer in front. The large churchyard extends down to the water's edge.

A chapel of ease to Bishop Cannings may have been built in the late 14th or early 15th century, certainly existing by 1461, possibly on the site of a hospital chapel that disappeared after 1338. It developed parochial status by the 16th century, with dedication to St James recorded in 1505. Nineteenth-century enlargement began in 1815 with an unexecuted design by Richard Ingleman for an enlarged chancel grafted onto the old nave and aisles. Eventually, full rebuilding of the nave, aisles and chancel was decided upon. Work began in July 1831, and the church reopened on 10 August 1832. The architect's identity remains somewhat unclear: the architect was reportedly a 'Mr Pennistone', presumably John Peniston of Salisbury, though Benoni White, a Devizes architect, seemingly drew the actual plans. Colvin suggests that Benoni was the designer and Peniston took over after Benoni's death; however, Benoni died in July 1833, almost a year after rebuilding was complete, so the split of responsibility for the design remains unclear. A choir vestry was added in 1932–7, and the 1830s side galleries were removed around 1937–46.