Church of St James

Details

RADLEY CHURCH ROAD SU5299 (North side) 18/87 Church of St. James 09/02/66 GV II* Church. C13: chancel of c.1330: C15 tower and fenestration: restored 1902. Uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings and partly roughcast east wall: ashlar tower. Gabled artificial stone slate roofs. Chancel and nave with south aisle and transept and west tower: north aisle and transept destroyed in 1640's. Fine C15 Perpendicular east window; early C14 angle buttresses have crocketted pinnacles. Fleuron frieze and crenellated parapet to 2-bay side walls of chancel which have C15 three-light cinquefoil-headed windows, C19 north door and C17 burial-chamber attached to south. North wall of 2-bay nave has similar reset C15 two- and 3-light windows flanking offset buttress. South transept has Y-tracery windows of c.1902. Nave has much restored C15 three-light window, an offset buttress and C15 south doorway with a C17 studded and ribbed door inscribed "Rodericus Loid 1656": late C19 timber porch. C15 two-light window with restored label-mould to west end of south aisle. C15 west tower: large Tudor-arched 2-light window above 2-centred doorway with quatrefoil spandrels: similar C15 windows to belfry: single-light windows adjoin sundial to south: crenellated parapet with gargoyles at corners. Interior: finely-carved painted reredos of 1909. C18 communion rail. Very fine early C17 misericords and stalls with 6-bay crocketed and panelled canopies bought from Cologne c.1847: benches have huge C17 poppy heads similar to those in Sunningwell Church (q.v.). Chancel arch of c.1902. Late C19 stone pulpit has very fine 3-bay late Gothic canopy with angel pendants to front, and linenfold and curvilinear-traceried panels at back. Late C19 eagle lectern; C18 pews, much restored; fine Norman drum font with blind arches is supported on 4 individually-carved colonettes with scalloped capitals; early C19 wrought-iron lantern-bracket and C20 gallery at west end. South transept has C13 piscina and C17 collar-truss roof. Unusual 4-bay south arcade has stop-chamfered oak posts supporting restored arcade plate which has hollow-chamfered lateral bracing: king-post roof of c.1902. C15 arch to west tower. Monuments: important monument in chancel by Nicholas Stone of Sir William Stonhouse, d.1631, and his son, d.1632: finely detailed and coloured. The recumbent effigies of William and his wife lie on a chest tomb with their children carved below, and son kneeling with his hands clasped in prayer over a skull on the right: chest tomb is framed by an open pediment with heraldic achievement and a shallow back-arch framing inscription panel. Also in chancel are wall tablets to Sir William Bowyer, d.1893, and Admiral Sir George Bowyer by F. Nollekens, which has garlanded oval inscription and flag draped over nautical symbols (compass, canon, anchor, ramrod etc.): oval tablet to his son Lieutenant Colonel William Bowyer, d.1808 on service in Barbados. South aisle has unusual triptych with central urn on wall by J. Lock of Abingdon to Davis family c.1822. Stained glass: east window has early C16 French or Flemish glass and large early C16 portrait in west window. C16 heraldic glass in other windows has been re-arranged and "supplemented very skillfully" by Thomas Willement c.1840. The canopy over the pulpit is said to have been the canopy to the Speaker's Chair brought here from Parliament by Speaker William Lenthall in 1630's. Radley was a Royalist outpost of Oxford in the Civil War, when the north aisle and transept were destroyed. The C13 style south transept windows replaced C15 ones in the 1902 restoration. (V.C.H.; Berkshire, pp.414-415; Buildings of England: Berkshire, pp. 196-7; Bodleian Library, M.S. Top, Berks, c.57, Jol.168v, and c.50, No.146; National Buildings Record; Patrick Drysdale, Radley, l985, pp.15-19).

Listing NGR: SU5219499377

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

249762

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 196-7
Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, (1924), 414-5
Drysdale, P, Radley, (1985), 15-19

End of official list entry

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