Church Of St James

Church of St. James

A parish church of the 12th century with significant modifications in the 14th and 15th centuries. The chancel, vestry, and porch were built in 1860 by G.R. Clarke. The church comprises a nave, north aisle, west tower, south porch, chancel, and vestry.

The tower is constructed of coursed, squared stone with an ashlar spire. The porch and chancel are built of coursed, squared stone with ashlar dressings, while the nave is random rubble with a north aisle of squared stone brought to courses; both have ashlar around the windows. The roof is tiled.

South façade: The tower has a plain plinth with a diagonal corner buttress on the left and a square-set buttress on the right. Above the nave eaves is a trefoil-headed lancet with a moulded string course above. There is a two-light reticulated tracery window, followed by a moulded oversailing course with two plain lead gargoyles and a battlemented parapet. The spire is truncated octagonal with lancet vents in the cardinal faces. The nave displays an early 18th-century wall monument on the left with drapery and memento mori imagery. To the right is a two-light window with plate tracery, trefoil heads, and a quatrefoil above, without a hoodmould (probably from 1860). The south porch has a plinth, moulded archway with hoodmould and foliage stops, and a trefoil in the gable. The porch has a serrated parapet gable with an apex block and iron finial. Two trefoil windows on each return are topped with rows of fishscale tiles on the roof. To the right are two windows matching those on the left, with some herringbone masonry at ground level. A large, square-set buttress at the right end is probably from 1860. The parapet gable has a cross-gablet apex and stone cross. The chancel has a plinth, two lancet windows, and a gable matching the nave. The east end features a three-light geometric tracery window with hoodmould and foliage stops.

West end: The tower has a plinth and diagonal corner buttresses. The lowest stage has a three-light window with cinquefoil heads to the lights and mouchettes above. A moulded string matches that on the south. A north facet to the tower on the right has a plinth with a semi-octagonal stone turret on the left. A boarded door in a gabled porch at the base has a three-lobed head. Three lancets light the stairs; a square-headed window sits below a moulded string course, above which the detail matches the south side. On the left is a plain parapet gable to the aisle with the roof continuing at the nave slope. Three trefoil-headed lancets light the aisle (1860), with evidence of a blocked door in the centre. A transeptal gable in the same plane to the left has a two-light reticulated tracery window and a stone parapet with a cross on the apex. The vestry to the left has twin lancets matching the aisle, a semi-octagonal east end, and a boarded doorway with an arched head on a splay. The hipped roof has a chimney rising from the rear right end. Set back on the left end of the chancel is a lancet window.

Interior: The nave has a boarded door with plastered walls, except in the tower. A four-bay arcade to the aisle has lozenge pillars with simply-moulded capitals and bases and four-centre arches with plain chamfered main parts. An ogee-headed tomb recess is on the south side with a trefoil-headed piscina adjoining it and another in the north aisle. A wide chancel arch (probably from 1860) divides the spaces. The nave roof has braced collar rafters, plastered at some period. The east end aisle has a transverse boarded panelled roof. The chancel has a two-bay arch-braced collar truss springing from corbels. Above the pulpit is a door to the roodscreen, with a wooden octagon on a wine-glass stem (19th century). The font has a 19th-century octagonal bowl, scalloped below, on a stem with heads to the faces. A 1612 Horton monument in the north aisle displays eight kneeling figures above a large base with a coat of arms in strapwork above. Two later 18th-century monuments stand in the tower base. A creed, decalogue, and benefactions board hangs in the church, along with a 1742 churchwarden's chest.

The stained glass in the side windows of the chancel dates to 1878 and 1899. The west window contains glass from 1860 by A. Gibbs of Bedford (all windows are dated).

The church forms a group with adjacent Court and farm buildings.