Church of St James is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 17 April 1959. A Medieval Church.
Church of St James
- WRENN ID
- lapsed-casement-dust
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Glastonbury and Somerton MP: Sarah Dyke (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 17 April 1959
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St James, Church Lane, Kingsbury Episcopi
- OS grid reference
- ST 431 186
- Coordinates
- 50.96458, -2.81061
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St James is an Anglican church located in East Lambrook, with origins dating back to the 12th, 13th, 15th, and 18th centuries, and underwent restoration in the 19th century. It is constructed from coursed and squared rubble, featuring slate roofs, stone tiles at the eaves, coped verges, finials, and a 19th-century double-gabled bell-turret. The church consists of a nave, chancel, and a small west porch, showcasing Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular architectural styles.
The nave has three bays, with a cusped 2-light square-headed window and a hollow-moulded mullioned and transomed window on the south side, along with a small square-headed opening beneath the eaves. There is evidence of a blocked former south doorway. On the north side, a chamfered 3-light mullioned window is present, and a doorway to a west gallery is situated high up, accessed by 11 external stone steps with a simple wrought-iron handrail. The west end features a single window and a 2-light window in a simple style.
The small, low chancel has a single bay and 2-light square-headed windows on the north and south sides, both with cusping. The east window, dating from around 1300, has cusping and intersecting tracery. The interior is simply styled, with plastered walls and flagstone floors. The chancel arch, dating to around 1190, rests on scallop corbels. A piscina with an ogee head, likely from the 14th century, is also present, along with an east window that has a rere-arch.
Notable interior features include two unusual wooden corbels carved as grotesque heads, an octagonal Perpendicular-type font that has likely been recut, and a pulpit made from reused Jacobean panels. The west gallery, dating from the 18th century, is particularly fine, supported by cast-iron columns and featuring a moulded cornice and central baluster panel. The church also contains late 18th to early 19th-century box pews, a large 18th-century painting of the Royal Arms, and an 18th-century charity plaque in the chancel.
Local climate
Church of St James receives an average of 820 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 51% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 60% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 62% of listed buildings. Of these, 11 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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