Church of St James, Rudry

The Church of St James in Rudry is an early English style church featuring a west tower, a nave with a porch, and a lower, narrower chancel. The building is constructed of rubble stone walls and has concrete tile roofs. The nave consists of three bays and includes two 19th-century lancet windows with hood moulds and uncarved stops to the right of the 19th-century porch. The porch has a coped gable supported by moulded kneelers and a doorway with a two-centred arch that has two orders of chamfers without capitals. On the south wall of the chancel, there is a similar lancet window on the right side and a blocked former priest's door to the left. The east window features two lights with geometric tracery and a hood mould with head stops. The north side of the chancel wall is battered at the base. The north wall of the nave has a lancet window on the left, similar to the south side, above a blocked doorway that may have led to a former rood loft, and a reset and partially renewed 16th-century window with two lights and cusped ogee heads.

The three-stage tower is battered at the base and topped with a saddleback roof, which is typical for the area. The west door has a semi-circular head and a bullnose surround, with a boarded door that features ornate cast iron strap hinges. The middle stage of the tower has small blocked windows on the west and south sides, while the bell stage includes two-light flat-headed windows on the north, south, and east sides.

Internally, most features date from a 19th-century restoration. The nave roof has closely spaced trusses with collar beams above raking struts, and the chancel roof is similar, with a boarded ceiling over the altar. The chancel arch is two-centred with two orders of chamfers, and the round-headed tower arch is early medieval.

The font is post-Reformation, possibly from the early 19th century before Prichard's restoration, featuring a square bowl with wave-moulded sides on a square pedestal with deep chamfers at the corners. The small wooden pulpit has a polygonal front with open arcading. The sanctuary includes a moulded communion rail supported by chased metal posts with foliage brackets. The stained glass in the east window was made by W Maile & Son in 1934. Additionally, there is a white marble wall tablet on the north wall of the nave commemorating those who fought in the 1914-18 war.