Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church located in Clapham-cum-Newby. The tower dates from the 15th century, while the rest of the church was built in 1814, with some alterations made around 1900. The building is constructed from slobbered rubble with stone dressings and has a slate roof.

The church features a south porch added in 1899, made of rock-faced stone with a stone slate roof. The porch has a pointed arch with a moulded surround and a cruciform finial on the gable. Below the porch is a window from 1814, with an entrance that has a basket-arched head and a moulded surround, leading to two leaf plank doors.

The west tower is three stages high, with a west entrance featuring a Tudor head and a moulded surround, along with c1900 two leaf plank doors and hoodmoulds. Above the entrance is a three-light window with a pointed arch, cavetto surround, and Perpendicular tracery. The second stage has a small trefoil-headed window with a cavetto surround. In the bell-stage, there is a deeply chamfered belfry opening, with the tracery on the west side now missing, but two-light trefoil-headed openings on the north and south sides. The tower is topped with an embattled parapet and has a central gargoyle on each face, along with diagonal buttresses.

Remnants of the former nave wall can be seen on the north and south sides, with the south wall featuring a chamfered lancet window. The nave has pointed arched windows with continuous hoodmoulds. On the south side, the left-hand window is blocked, while the others have three lights with c1900 tracery. There is a vestry entrance on the right-hand side with a Tudor arch, moulded surround, and a three-panel door, along with rock-faced stone quoins, a parapet, and a stringcourse. The north side has a left-hand window that retains 1814 sashes with intersecting tracery in the upper sash and a 35-pane lower sash; the remaining windows have c1900 tracery.

At the east end, the central chancel window has three lights with c1900 tracery and a quoined moulded surround with a hoodmould. There are smaller three-light windows to the left and right, featuring rectilinear tracery and hoodmoulds. Inside, the church has north and south arcades supported by octagonal pillars and segmental-pointed arches. 17th-century panelling from the pews has been reused as dado panelling, while the present pews date from around 1900. The church was rebuilt by the Farrar family of Ingleborough Hall, to whom several memorials are dedicated.