Church Of St James

Church of St James

Early 13th-century church with later Decorated and Perpendicular additions. Built of coursed limestone and ironstone rubble with an ashlar tower and lead roof. The church comprises a chancel, north vestry, nave with south aisle, south porch, and west tower.

The chancel contains three-light Perpendicular windows. The late Perpendicular north vestry has a square-headed window with two cusped lights. Between the nave and chancel is a projection containing a 17th-century manorial pew, with a one-light window with moulded stone frame and square hood to the north, and a doorway with a pointed stone arch on the west side.

The nave's north wall features two two-light Decorated windows with flowing tracery. A 14th-century north doorway has an arch with continuous mouldings, a studded plank door, and a holy water stoup in an arched recess to the right. The south aisle contains two two-light 14th-century windows with Y tracery to the east of the doorway and a similar window to the west. An 18th-century east window with three lights has a straight keystoned head and stone mullions.

The 14th-century south porch has an entrance with continuous mouldings and a studded ribbed plank door. Its inner doorway has a double chamfered arch with jamb shafts bearing bell capitals.

The Perpendicular west tower rises in four stages with a castellated parapet. The west doorway has an arch with continuous mouldings and a hood with crocketed finials, a studded ribbed plank door, and a holy water stoup in an arched recess to the right. A three-light west window has bar tracery, and two-light bell openings feature a transom and bar tracery.

Interior features include a piscina in the chancel set within an arched cusped recess. A 17th-century doorway to the vestry has an elaborately moulded four-centred arch with its original studded ribbed plank door. The manorial pew is divided from the chancel and nave by a wooden Doric column and fitted with 17th- and 19th-century panelling and wall seats.

The south arcade dates to the early 13th century and comprises three bays with double chamfered arches and round piers. The capital of the east pier is carved with heads, one supported by a hand. An 18th-century polygonal panelled pulpit stands in the nave, alongside a disused 18th-century alabaster font in the form of an urn. The present font dates to the 19th century. Stained glass shields in the south aisle windows date to the 16th and 17th centuries.

The church contains an important collection of monuments to the Chauncy family. The earliest is to Toby, died 1579, with two wives, comprising an alabaster chest tomb with effigies. William (died 1585) and his wife are commemorated by an alabaster chest tomb with effigies and nine children in relief on the north side. Toby (died 1662) is remembered by a slate plaque in a gilded alabaster frame with scrolls and fruit pendants, surmounted by a coat of arms, positioned in the south aisle.

Four monuments are by the sculptor Rysbrack. William Chauncy (died 1644) is commemorated by a pedimented white marble wall tablet at the east end of the south aisle. Richard (died 1734) has a white marble tablet with a broken pediment to the west of the south door. The children of Toby Chauncy are remembered by a white marble tablet with a broken scroll pediment. Richard Chauncy (died 1760) is commemorated on the north wall of the nave by a wall tablet with a scroll pediment, swags of flowers, and a portrait bust in Roman style.

A monument to Toby Chauncey (died 1724), attributable to the Smiths of Warwick, features a grey and white marble wall tablet with fluted Ionic columns and a broken segmental pediment bearing a coat of arms.

A monument to Julia Cartwright (died 1853) on the north wall of the nave takes the form of a stone Gothic triptych with two praying figures.