Church of St James

Details

BERWICK ST. JAMES HIGH STREET SU 03 NE (east side) 3/5 Church of St. James 23.3.60. GV I Anglican parish church. C12, C13, C14, C16, C17, restored 1871. Limestone and flint, tiled or leaded roof. Plan: west tower, nave with side chapels, chancel with lean-to vestry, north porch. Gabled porch, formerly 2-storey, has double hollow-chamfered pointed doorway, probably C16, diagonal buttress to west side, 4- light C16 cusped mullioned window to east wall, coped verge and 1871 datestone to gable. North chapel to left has single-light cusped C16 window and 3-light C16 window to east, lead roof. Nave clerestory has moulded string course and 2-light C16 cusped window to right of porch and 3-light to left, string course to parapet with saddleback coping. Ashlar stack to left, sanctus cross. North side of chancel has pair of chamfered lancets and single lancet to left of C19 lean-to vestry with chamfered doorway and square window. East end has pilaster and angle buttresses and stepped triple lancets, south side has central pair of lancets flanked by single lancets, C14 cusped lancet to left, buttresses with offsets. South chapel has 2-light C16 cusped window and pair of cusped ogee lancets. South side of nave has blocked shouldered doorway, C14 two-light cusped ogee window to left, offset string course to clerestory; two 2-light and one single-light C16 cusped windows, parapet as north side. Two stage tower has angle buttresses and chamfered round-headed windows, offset bellstage with paired round-headed louvred windows, string course to battlemented parapet, datestone on north side: WIL.SNOW/THO. GILBERT/CHURCH/WARDENS/1670. Interior: Largely unrestored; porch retains 3 stone corbels for removed upper floor, stone bench, fine C12 round-headed doorway with zig-zag ornament, plain tympanum with some incised lozenge decoration to square-headed door lintel, attached shafts with scalloped capitals, good ribbed door. Nave with 3-bay carefully restored roof; shallow-pitched king-post trusses with moulded timbers, curved bracing to carved head corbels, probably C16. Continuously chamfered pointed tower arch with broach stops. Blocked moulded elliptically-arched doorway with broken crockets on north wall, formerly to pulpit. North chapel has Transitional pointed arch with nailhead ornament, chamfered responds with moulded capitals and similarly moulded doorway to right, lean-to roof with chamfered timbers. South chapel has chamfered round arch with similar responds as north, broach stops, cusped ogee piscina on south wall. Continuously chamfered chancel arch with broach stops, chancel has C19 scissor-rafter roof, ogee cusped lancet and C13 lancet on north wall, opposite those to south, now within vestry, continuous roll-moulded sills cut by C14 lancets; each with small cusped recess, chamfered rere-arches to C13 lancets. Fittings: good late C17 communion rail with turned balusters and vase finials, late Medieval carved stone pulpit, moved from north wall in C19, with arched panels on moulded corbelling, C12 stone cylindrical font on pedestal with moulded plinth, wooden cover with finial, good Cl9 oak pews. Two classical marble tablets in chancel to Pinckney family; one with urn and drapery to Robert by Osmond of Sarum, died 1823, the other to another Robert died 1836. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England; Wiltshire, 1975; Church Guide.)

Listing NGR: SU0718439158

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

320439

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Church of St James Church Guide, ()
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975)

End of official list entry

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