Church of St James

The Church of St James is a parish church dating from the 15th century, with later alterations and additions. The church is constructed of red sandstone rubble, with ashlar dressings, and has slate roofs to the nave and chancel, and a stone-tiled roof to the porch. It comprises a nave, chancel, a west tower, and a south porch. The gabled south porch has a Gothic arched entrance doorway with a wagon roof and small Tudor arched openings to either side. The south wall of the nave features late 15th century Perpendicular windows. One window to the left of the porch has two cinquefoil lights with ribbed panels above a flat head, while to the right is a similar four-light window and a tall, semi-circular arched window dated 1703. The nave and chancel both have coped gables with stone crosses at the apex, and the chancel roofline is lower. The south wall of the chancel has a small ogee headed window, a chamfered pointed arched doorway with a plank door featuring applied fillets, and a pointed arched window with two trefoils. The east gable of the chancel has a pointed arched window with three cinquefoil lights and a dripmould with returns. The north wall of the chancel is blind. The north wall of the nave has three windows, all with flat heads, including a centrally located 19th-century restored three-light cinquefoil window, and two-light windows on either side. The three-stage west tower has an attached stair turret to the northeast. The tower has a shallow plinth with a moulded string; the first stage features paired lancets on the west face, the second stage has chamfered slit openings on three sides, and the belfry projects on stone corbels, with each face of the bell chamber featuring square, recessed openings with louvred triple lancets. A castellated parapet has two merlons on each side and projecting rainwater spouts to the south. The nave's wagon roof dates from a Victorian restoration around 1870, with moulded ribs, boarded panels, a moulded wall plate, and embattled decoration. The chancel has a 15th-century wagon roof, with many 19th-century decorative bosses, a plaster vault, and a moulded wall plate. The pointed chancel arch is dated 1872. Inside, a C20 Arts and Crafts style oak pulpit and low chancel screen are decorated with carved panels depicting a celestial city and a ship under sail. A pointed tower arch is set off by a 19th-century wooden screen with a band of enclosed trefoils to the cornice, and a font from around 1870 has an octagonal bowl and shaft set on a square plinth. The east window of 1905, depicting the Adoration, incorporates fragments of medieval glass in its tracery. The north nave window from 1976 depicts St James and St Gwitherin. Exceptionally fine early 17th-century tombstones are positioned to either side of the altar; to the left is an effigy of Reverend David Powell (died 1621), and to the right, of his wife Mary Powell. The chancel also contains a floorstone to Anthony Powell, and a monument to John Price (died 1705). A rare monumental brass commemorates Anne Stephens (died 1729), engraved by Devereux Parry. Several good slate wall monuments, attributable to the Brute family, include memorials to Mary Williams (died 1724), Samuel Watkins (died 1773), and Thomas Davies (died 1787).