Parish Church Of Saint Philip And St James

The parish church of Saint Philip and St James is an Anglican church built in 1856 by John Hayward, constructed in the geometrical Decorated style. The church is built of snecked rubble with ashlar dressings, topped with a Welsh slate roof featuring fishscale banding to the spire.

The plan incorporates a five-bay nave with a narthex, north and south aisles, a north porch, a north transeptal steeple, a south transeptal organ chamber, a chancel, a north chancel aisle, and a southeast vestry. The west end features two paired lights under a cusped roundel, flanked by buttresses projecting to clasp the narthex, which has two doorways to either side of a window (previously a doorway). The aisles have three-light windows, and there are two-light windows to the aisles with spherical triangular windows to the clerestory. The north porch is characterized by heavy, low buttresses and contemporary wooden gates. The north chancel aisle features taller two-light windows with elaborate moulded surrounds and ball-flower detailing to the cornice. A prominent steeple rises from three stages, incorporating a stair turret in the northeast angle. The belfry features deeply recessed two-light openings, a cornice, and a pyramidal spire. A five-light window illuminates the east end.

Inside, the nave piers alternate between octagonal and circular sections, with capitals carved with naturalistic foliage. Moulded arches are covered by a continuous hood mould. The clerestory windows are set in richly moulded surrounds with shafts, hood-moulds, and sills decorated with ball-flowers. Internal shafting is also present at the aisle windows. The roof is arch-braced, featuring collars, ashlar pieces, wind braces, two sets of side purlins and shafts supported by foliated stone corbels. The chancel features a three-bay arcade to the north with polished limestone circular section piers and foliated capitals. The south arch provides access to the organ chamber. The church contains a stone reredos, a two-bay gabled arcade with richly crocketed and finialed framing texts on slate, forming an ensemble with the two-seat sedilia to the south. A polygonal marble pulpit with open arcaded panels, cornice, corner shafts, and brass rails adorns the space, along with a brass eagle lectern and a communion rail with barley-sugar stems and foliated brackets. The font is square with chamfered corners, featuring an incised Celtic crosses on a central pier and four marble shafts. Wooden seating is present with traceried frontals and ends. Stained glass windows commemorate the date 1857 with depictions of the four Evangelists and their symbols, while the east window presents scenes from the Life of Christ. Full complements of 1850s glass are found in the chancel aisle and sanctuary windows by various makers. Recognized as an exceptional church for its date and demonstrating a deeply considered Ecclesiologically ‘correct’ style, it boasts a complete set of fittings.