Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church of medieval origin, largely rebuilt in the 1840s. It is constructed of coursed flint with Bath stone dressings, topped with a slate roof, and displays a Decorated style with symmetrical design. The church comprises a three-bay nave with aisles, a chancel with a north vestry and a south chapel, and a west tower. The tower incorporates some 14th-century fabric. The walls feature a crenellated parapet with corner finials, stepped buttresses (diagonal at the corners), a plinth, and coupled windows with reticulate tracery. The east walls are of malmstone, with single-light east windows to the chapels and a four-light east window with flowing tracery. The tower has three stages and a decorated parapet, corner finials above stepped buttresses (diagonal to the south-west), an octagonal stair turret at the north-west corner, and a doorway with recessed Orders and an ogee hood-mould.

Inside, the fittings are Victorian, including an octagonal font and octagonal nave columns. The design accommodates important tombs from the earlier church, with recesses at the east ends of the aisles and in the centre of the aisles, the middle bay acting as an architectural framework. The south aisle east recess contains a panelled table tomb for Elizabeth and John Norton (circa 1530), featuring an arched canopy and heraldic device. The north aisle east recess houses the tomb of Sir John Norton (1686), with a recumbent figure in armour resting on a table tomb, a background panel with architectural surround, and a heraldic top-piece. A mid-16th-century monument in the north aisle’s middle recess is an Ionic framework above a panelled table tomb, with two kneeling figures (Anne and John Norton). The south aisle’s middle bay displays the Commandments in gold Gothic letters. Small wall monuments are present in the south aisle, dated 1766, 1797, 1809, 1816, and 1821. The tower holds a wall monument dated 1731, above small brasses of 1615 and 1829, flanked by painted bequest panels of 1760 and 1822. A Royal Coat of Arms from 1706 is also visible.