Church Of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating from the late 11th century, with subsequent alterations and additions. The earlier parts are constructed of coursed, squared rubble, while later work uses snecked rubble. The nave and lower chancel have graduated slate roofs on the south side and stone flags on the north, with stone copings and 19th-century apex crosses. The gabled tower roof and the vestry outshut on the north side also have graduated slate.

The church includes a west tower, nave, and chancel. A Hilton chapel was added to the north of the nave in 1723, replacing the original north aisle. The three-stage, stepped west tower features a single narrow opening on each floor to the south and west sides, with substantial angle buttressing. Four mask corbels from the original top string course survive in each gable. A gabled, 19th-century south porch was rebuilt using earlier materials, slightly west of its original position. The outer door is shouldered, and the inner door surround has a semicircular head with a continuous triple-cavetto moulding. A late 11th-century door on the east side is partially blocked, with a 2-light 19th-century window inserted. An 18th-century nave window surround with a semicircular head has a 19th-century traceried window inserted, with similar treatment to two windows in the north wall of the Hilton chapel. A small, 14th-century mullioned window to the right has two lights with trefoiled ogee heads under a hoodmould. The chancel has three windows on the south side (none on the north), the central one being a reset 14th/15th-century window with two ogee-headed lights. An early 16th-century door with a moulded ogee head under a hoodmould is located below, and mullioned windows of the early 16th century with two semicircular-headed lights each are situated to either side. A similar three-light east window has the blocked head of a 14th-century two-light window set in the wall above.

Internally, the original narrow west doorway with a semicircular head now leads into the tower, which has had a basement excavated, likely to house the heating system. A 12th-century arcade with two semicircular arches separates the Hilton chapel from the nave; the west respond is 18th/19th century, but the freestanding pier and east respond retain their scalloped capitals and moulded bases. The north wall of the chapel has an inset panel with a coat-of-arms and the date 1723. The patterned woodblock floor has the date 1884 on the central block. A hagioscope between the vestry and chancel has a 14th-century trefoiled head. An early 16th-century combined aumbry/piscina of two recesses with semicircular heads is located in the south wall at the east end of the chancel. The chancel has a three-bay early 16th-century king-post roof with moulded tie-beams, curved braces, and raking struts. The 19th-century nave roof has crown-posts and moulded tie-beams. The font is probably 12th century, set on a 19th-century base; it is square in plan with a shallow circular basin and tapered rounding of the corners.