Parish Church of St James

Details

YARMOUTH

SZ3589 ST JAMES'S STREET 1354-0/10/391 (East side) 18/01/67 Parish Church of St James

II*

Parish church. On site of a medieval church destroyed during French raids in 1377 and 1543. Stone pillars to nave arcade date from 1540s rebuilding but otherwise the church was rebuilt between 1614 and 1626 with Holmes chapel added in 1692 to contain the monument to Sir Robert Holmes Governor of the Isle of Wight 1667-92. Top stage of the tower added by Daniel Alexander of Maidstone in 1831 and also west gallery and pews. Built of stone rubble with slate roof, the lower 3 courses of stone slates. Nave of 4 bays with aisles, lower chancel with south chapel and west tower. West tower, the lower 4 stages of 1614, the upper or bell stage added by Daniel Alexander in 1831 in memory of his sons Henry and William and to form a seamark. Lower stages of coursed stone rubble. West face has angled buttresses. Top stage of original portion has cambered lancet window, the lower stages have paired lancets, one with the date 1614 and stilted arched doorcase with drip-mould. Other sides have cambered lancets. Top stage is of coursed stone rubble with crenelleted parapet and tall thin lancet of moulded yellow brick. Square stair turret. North aisle has 3 double lancet windows and gabled stone porch with brick kneelers and round-headed arch. Angled buttresses to corners. South aisle has gable end with kneelers. 3 double cambered lancets and C19 semi-dormer with kneelers and arched window with quatrefoil above and 2 trefoliated lights below west end has cambered arched window. Angled buttresses to corner. Chancel has C17 fabric but C19 windows. Holmes Chapel is of red brick with stone quoins, kneelers, plinth and elaborate stone window surround with triple curved heads and scrolled keystone. Interior: Nave of 4 bays has arcades of octagonal tooled stone piers with stilted brick arches. Canted nave roof in 5 cants with 5 tie beams. Aisle roofs have through purlins and principal rafters supported on stone corbels. Early C19 west organ gallery and box pews. 1873 marble and stone pulpit with nearby 1625 iron bracket with C19 hourglass. Coat of Arms of George I over south doorway and 3 hatchments to Holmes and Rushworks families. South aisle has memorial tablet to the architect Daniel Alexander, his wife and 2 of his sons. Aisles have a series of C18 or early C19 wall tablets. Chancel has round-headed chancel arch with 3 light cambered casement lighting the Nave. C19 scissor-braced roof. East window has 6 cambered lights and 2 cambered lights to side walls. South wall has monument to Captain John Urry by Nollekins erected in 1802, a wall tablet with sarcophagus with urn above and obelisk with shield. North wall has memorial to Edward Rushnorth (d.1817) who built Farringford in Freshwater C.P. Holmes Chapel has 1692 entrance with elaborate swans neck pediment containing a scroll with the name Sir Thomas Holmes, pilasters and a bolection moulded architrave. The principal monument in the chapel is to Sir Robert Holmes, Governor of the Isle of Wight 1667-1692 which consists of a marble statue of the governor resting against a cannon with a parchment in his right hand in a pink marble surround with curved open pediment with shield, cap of state, Ionic columns and elaborate console brackets. The statue is said to have been sculpted for and representing Louis XIV of France, but the vessall and sculptor were captured by an English ship commanded by Sir Robert Holmes who compelled the sculptor to carve his own head on the King of France's body. The relatively plain dress of the statue renders this theory suspect. The chapel also contains a marble tablet to Henry Son of Thomas Lord Holmes d.1751 in his 5th year. (N. Pevsner: B.O.E. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight: 776).

Listing NGR: SZ3546589663

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

393280

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, (1967), 776

End of official list entry

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