Church of St James is a Grade II listed building in the Westmorland and Furness local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 October 1986. Church.
Church of St James
- WRENN ID
- spare-beam-moth
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Westmorland and Furness
- Constituency
- Penrith and Solway MP: Markus Campbell-Savours (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 October 1986
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St James, Skelton
- OS grid reference
- NY 459 364
- Coordinates
- 54.7201, -2.84066
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St James is a church built in 1714 that incorporates parts of a medieval church, with significant restoration carried out in 1867-8 by Anthony Salvin for the Fletcher-Vane family of Hutton Hall. The building features mixed pink and grey sandstone rubble walls with flush quoins and an eaves cornice, set on a chamfered plinth. It has a graduated greenslate roof with coped gables and a cross finial. The church consists of a 3-bay nave with a twin open bellcote and a 2-bay chancel that includes a north vestry. The nave has west and south doors with Tudor arches under hoodmoulds, and it is adorned with 2- and 3-light Tudor style windows. A fragment of a 9th-century interlace cross-shaft is built into the north wall. The chancel features 2-light windows and a 3-light east window, with the south wall possibly showing remains of a medieval round-headed window. Inside the nave, there is a 19th-century open timber roof. The rear gallery has 18th-century turned balusters, creed and pater boards, and beneath it lies a medieval graveslab. The chancel displays the Royal Arms of George III dated 1780, along with various elaborate 18th- and 19th-century white marble wall plaques dedicated to members of the Fletcher-Vane family. A late 17th-century altar rail with turned balusters is also present.
Local climate
Church of St James sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,200 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 91% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 84% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 58 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 97% of listed buildings. Of these, 34 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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Nearby listed buildings
- Wall and Gateways to St James Churchyard
- Roadside Walls North of Entrance Gateway, North West of Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Entrance Gateway and Walls North West of Hutton in the Forest
- Dovecote North of Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Courtyard Walls and Stable Ranges North of Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Garden Wall and Gateway East of Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Gateway, Wall and Railings at Former Entrance North East of Unthank Hall
- Former Entrance Gates and Walls East of Hutton in the Forest Hall
- Gate Piers in Front of Unthank Hall