Details
TL 31NW STANSTEAD ABBOTS ROYDON ROAD
(north side)
Tarbets Hill
5/43 Old Church of St James
24.1.67
GV I
Church, now vested in Redundant Churches Fund. Nave probably
C12, chancel without structural division C13, W tower and S porch
C15, large NE chapel in brick dated 1577 in relief panel on E
gable. Uncoursed flint rubble incorporating Roman tiles, C16
brickwork in NE chapel and E end of chancel, stone dressings. Old
red tiled roofs. Continuous roof over nave and chancel. Short
leaded spire with tiled lower slopes. Timber-framed S-porch with
cusped original bargeboards, 3-centred arched entrance and crown-
post roof on cambered tie-beams. C13 S-door of 2 chamfered
orders, next window on W C13 altered in C15, when 2 2-light
traceried windows were also inserted to the E of the porch. No
openings but blocked doorway in N wall of nave. C15 crown-post
roof of 3 bays plastered under the collars, continues over 2-
bay chancel without crown-post on the cambered tie beam. Lower
part of C15 screen built into pews. Chancel has C15 3-light E
window, 4-bay N arcade on octagonal piers (3 western bays of
1577: E bay later). 2 2-light C15 windows in S wall, and a C13
double piscina. NE chapel has plastered waggon roof, Perp E
window of 3 4-centred lights under a 4-centred arch, 2 2-light N
windows (straight-headed under hoodmoulds), and a small W door.
Tall 2-stage embattled tower with diagonal buttresses and
projecting polygonal SE stair turret carried above the parapet.
Early C15 tower arch of 2 moulded orders with shafted jambs and
moulded caps. Contemporary W door of 2 moulded orders, the outer
square, 3-light window over door, and 2-light bell chamber
openings with quartrefoil and hood mould over. Fittings include
C13 circular font on octagonal C15 pedestal, C16 2-decker pulpit
(inlaid tester now door in tower screen), heraldic stained glass
in NE chapel dated 1573, Royal Arms and commandment boards on E
wall, 3 hatchments and a Tortoise stove in the Nave, medieval S
door, head of tower screen said to be C15 rood beam, wall
monument to Sir Edward Baeshe 1587 on N wall of chapel and
painted inscriptions on N and E walls, brasses in chancel and
nave, 3 bells of 1605, 1617 and 1790, 2 wall monuments by the
younger Bacon (Paul Fielde 1805 and Robert Jocelyn 1806), tablets
in nave including Philip Booth 1818 by Bacon and Manning, H T
Baucutt Nash 1825 by Kendrick, Mary Booth 1848, and Sir Felix
Booth 1850 both by Manning. Whitewashed interior with box pews
and nave pulpit on S wall preserves the C18 village character.
On a conspicuous hilltop site overlooking the Lea marshes. Of
outstanding interest as a medieval church with unrestored C18
interior. (RCHM (1911) 209-10, VCH (1912) 371-2, Pevsner (1977)
342).
Listing NGR: TL3997211061