Church of St James
CHURCH OF ST JAMES, BEAUCHAMP LANE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1185096
- Date first listed:
- 12-Jan-1954
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St James
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST JAMES, BEAUCHAMP LANE
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-03-16
- Reference:
- IOE01/10374/33
- Rights:
- © Mr Andrew Carter. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1185096
- Date first listed:
- 12-Jan-1954
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 28-Jun-1972
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St James
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST JAMES, BEAUCHAMP LANE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST JAMES, BEAUCHAMP LANE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- Oxford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 53984 03825
Details
612/26/88 BEAUCHAMP LANE 12-JAN-1954 (West side) CHURCH OF ST JAMES (Formerly listed as: CHURCH STREET CHURCH OF ST JAMES)
II*
Parish church. Mid C12, C13, and 1862-5 work by G.E. Street. Stone (part rendered), tile and slate roof. PLAN: Chancel, nave, south porch, north aisle and Lady Chapel (formerly vestry). EXTERIOR: The church comprises a late C12 nave with north (reset: slightly chamfered arch) and south (also reset: one order of columns with scallop capitals and with a roll-moulding) and chancel arch (with possibly C13 painted lozenge and spiral decoration) of this date. The chancel with three stepped lancet lights is C13, as are the two south and one north square-headed lights to the chancel and the three dwarf buttresses supporting the east wall. Three windows in the south wall of the nave are C14, the low west tower C15. In 1864-5 G.E. Street added an arcaded north aisle in the Early English style with dogtooth in the abici of the arcade piers (the arcade extending alongside the chancel as a two-storey vestry, later refurbished as the Lady Chapel) in which the C12 door was reset. At the same time the church underwent a general refurbishment, during which the south porch was rebuilt and the roof renewed. INTERIOR: Internally fittings and furnishings include a C12 or C13 tub font; C13 piscina with shouldered lintel; marble reredos of 1862-3; stalls and pulpit by Street. The Norman columns at the chancel arch retain their original paint, with spirals on one and lozenges on the other; this being a rare surviving illustration of interior decorative schemes. Entirely occupying the west end of the nave is a C19 organ removed here in 1896 from Carfax church and repainted in the mid C20 in a gold and red 'medieval' colour scheme. HISTORY: The Church of St. James, parish church of Cowley village, came to Osney Abbey in 1149, and the remaining Norman elements may date from soon after that. As Cowley was industrialised and expanded in the mid C19 the previously small congregation grew with it, and in 1862-5 the church was almost wholly rebuilt by G.E. Street.
Summary of Importance: The Church of St. James is a substantially intact medieval parish church, with substantial work of the C12, C13, C14, and C15. Especially notable is the C12 chancel arch with its probably C13 painted decoration. The medieval fabric is complemented by G.E. Street's mid C19 work, and the church altogether merits this high grade.
Sources: J. Sherwood and N. Pevsner, Oxfordshire (1974), 340; V.C.H. Oxfordshire 4 (1979), 409; 5 (1957), 90-3
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 245322
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 14:17:20.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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