Church of St James

Details

632/1/74 LIND STREET 24-OCT-50 (North side) CHURCH OF ST JAMES (Formerly listed as: LIND STREET ST JAMES'S CHURCH HALL)

II Opened in 1827, the architect to both the church and the integral church hall was Greenway Robins of Walworth. It was externally altered by R P Thomas in 1968-9. The windows were mainly replaced in the 1990s. The chancel arch was blocked in 1996 and some furnishings moved forward in front of it.

MATERIALS: Rendered, with slate roof to church hall and C20 concrete tiles to church.

PLAN: West vestibule and nave of six bays with north and south aisles, galleried on three sides, with single bay chancel and attached two to three storey church hall at the eastern end.

EXTERIOR: This pre-ecclesiological Gothic style church was much modified externally in the later C20. The west front retains the original gable roofline, the lower part of two buttresses flanking the central entrance, the flanking window openings and the lower part of corner octagonal turrets, but the gable has been covered in C20 plastic weatherboarding and a central relief feature with intersecting curves representing the Christian fish symbol added over the central doorcase. The original doorcase was replaced in the later C20 by a flat hood on brackets. The original side pavilions retain stripped down original lancet windows but have lost the original doorcases. The north and south sides retain seven paired metal two tier cinquefoil-headed windows divided by buttresses. Some windows retain original stained glass to the spandrels. The eastern chancel window is lower. On the south side, iron forecourt railings on a low wall connect the southern pavilion to the former church hall. The south side of the church hall has a gable with end buttresses, first floor arched Perpendicular style three-light mullioned and transomed window, ground floor lancet windows and square porch with raised centre to the parapet, arched doorcase and lancet windows to the returns. The east and north sides are plain with C20 windows.

INTERIOR: A vestibule with arched wooden double doors leads into the church. The nave has a boarded kingpost roof supported on stone corbels. There are galleries on the north, south and west sides. The west gallery contains the organ. The two tier arcade has slender octagonal piers with four-centred arches above those to the galleries. The wooden gallery balconies are panelled with blank arches and shields. The east end has a large four-centred blank arch with hood-moulding and narrower similar arches with arched doorcases below to the aisles. There is a central wooden carved triptych with cusped panels, the central panel inscribed `Till He Come' in Gothic lettering, the side panels inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Well staircases to the galleries have stick balusters and column newels. The church hall has a similar staircase with a built-in settle on the landing. The upper hall has a suspended C20 ceiling.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: Both nave and aisles retain the original box pews with triangular-headed end panel and polygonal finials. The galleries also retain the original box pews. The wooden pulpit, to the south of the east end, is square, with canted angle and panels with triangular motifs. The hexagonal wooden font has quatrefoil motifs to the side panels and is supported on columns.

HISTORY: St James's Church was built as a proprietary chapel, the architect, Greenway Robins of Walworth. As built in 1827 this was a pre-ecclesiological Gothic style church, the western end having an elaborately decorated central bay, with octagonal buttresses and pavilions with crenellated parapets and all windows with hood-moulds. There was a slender gabled and pinnacled bell turret. The north and south sides also had crenellated parapets and arched heads to the windows, with quatrefoil motifs and hood-moulding. In 1968-9 R P Thomas stripped the exterior of external Gothic decorative features and the turret was demolished soon afterwards. For a while a floor was inserted at gallery level in the nave but this was later removed.

SOURCES Lloyd, D and Pevsner, N., The Buildings of England: Isle of Wight (2006), 223

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The Church of St James, Lind Street, Ryde, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Stylistic Interest: an 1827 pre-ecclesiological Gothic chapel, although the exterior lost many of its decorative features and the bell turret in the later C20. * Interior Design Interest: little altered with original kingpost roof, two tier arcade and galleries on three sides. * Survival of Fittings: original joinery fixtures include box pews, pulpit and font, doors and staircases.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

411939

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.