Church Of St James The Great

Church of St James the Great, Paulerspury

A church of medieval origins, substantially dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, though much restored and rebuilt during the 19th century in campaigns of 1844, 1854 (chancel) and 1864. The building is constructed of coursed squared limestone with slate roofs and lead covering to the north aisle, chancel chapel and west tower.

The church comprises a chancel, north chancel chapel and vestry, nave with north and south aisles, north and south porches, and a west tower. The 3-bay chancel features a 3-light east window in Decorated style, with 3-light windows of intersecting tracery to the south and north-east, all with hood moulds. A chamfered priest's door to the south has a hood mould linked to a string course. Buttresses rise at the angles and between bays on the south face. The north chancel chapel, which continues the line of the north aisle, contains coupled lancets to the south and is adjoined by an attached vestry to the east. The vestry has small rectangular windows with chamfered stone surrounds on its east and north faces and a ridged stone roof. A 5-sided tower stands beside the chancel, similarly fenestrated with small rectangular windows.

The nave displays a 5-bay clerestory with spherical triangle windows and quatrefoil tracery. The north aisle contains 2-light windows to the north with Y-tracery and a double-chamfered north door with hood mould and carved head stops, all set within an 1864 porch. The south aisle has a 2-light east window with Decorated-style tracery, and 2-light windows to the south with Y-tracery and quatrefoils in the heads, all with hood moulds. A south door with double sunk chamfers sits within a porch featuring a double hollow-chamfered doorway with hood mould. Small 1-light windows with ogee heads flank the porch to east and west. Diagonal buttresses reinforce the aisle, and the gable is stone-coped with a tile roof.

The 3-stage west tower has a chamfered west door beneath a 3-light Perpendicular window with hood mould continuing the string course. A 19th-century single-storey lean-to store extends to the north, and a stair turret projects to the south-east with small quatrefoil windows and a single small 2-light trefoil-headed window at mid-stage level. Tall 2-light Perpendicular bell-openings with transoms and hood moulds pierce the tower, which is reinforced by diagonal buttresses to its west angles and finished with battlemented parapets.

Interior

The chancel contains fine 14th-century triple sedilia and double piscina with remarkable carved detail. The sedilia seats feature pointed trefoil heads with miniature rib vaults within, decorated with foliage bosses. Projecting divisions are finished with crocketted pinnacles and crocketted hood moulds; the underside displays an ogee-arch frieze carved with foliage and fantastic beasts, topped with brattishing. The piscina has a six-pointed star in the spandrel. Windows in the chancel chapel feature detached shafts and half-columns with moulded capitals and arches decorated with dog-tooth ornament. A 2-bay arcade between chancel and chapel has an octagonal pier and double-chamfered arches. The nave contains 5-bay arcades with similar piers and arches, alternating with circular piers to the north. Most roofs date to the 19th century, except for the 20th-century roof to the chancel chapel.

The interior contains a triptych reredos of 1880 designed by Swinfen Harris with panels painted by Nathaniel Westlake. A fine 19th-century painted stone pulpit displays Perpendicular styling. A Norman tub font features palmette-style ornament either side of a scalloped beaded fillet.

Stained glass includes a south-west chancel window of 1878 by Clayton and Bell, a tower window by Hardman of 1893, and 17th-century painted armorial panels in the heads of the chancel chapel windows.

Monuments and Fittings

The church contains significant monuments spanning several centuries. A mid-14th-century stone chest tomb displays oak effigies of a knight and lady, the lady's pillow supported by angels; these are thought to commemorate Sir Lawrence de Pavely and his wife. A large black marble and alabaster chest tomb holds the reclining effigies of Sir Arthur Throckmorton (died 1603) and his wife, leaning on one elbow and facing each other. A 17th-century wall monument features a segmental pediment filled with a cartouche. A marble monument to Benjamin Bathurst (died 1704) and his wife (died 1727) is topped by an urn against an obelisk panel, positioned behind the organ. Additional wall monuments commemorate Joseph Spinall (died 1726) by Hunt and Robert Sheddon of Paulersbury Park (died 1826) by Theakston, along with various other 19th-century wall monuments.