Church of St James

Details

POOLE

SZ0090SE CHURCH STREET 958-1/17/10 (North West side) 14/06/54 Church of St James

GV II*

Church. Rebuilt 1819-21. By John Kent of Southampton and Joseph Hannaford of Christchurch, in simplified Gothic style, broadly Perpendicular. Renovated 1893, when re-seated. Purbeck ashlar with slate roofs. PLAN: sanctuary with vestibule either side housing staircases to gallery, aisled nave and west tower flanked by vestry wings. Single bay projection to east end housing sanctuary and flanking vestibules, all under one roof. EXTERIOR: sanctuary has 5-light E window with chamfered surround extending well below bottom of present window, 4-centred head with hoodmould and Perpendicular-style tracery probably of 1897. Doorways N and S to vestibules which have 4-panel doors with pointed heads to main panels, overlights with timber Y-tracery, 4-centred heads and hoodmoulds. Above each door a 2-light window with timber and tracery, 4-centred head and hoodmould. Nave has 5-bay aisles under one roof with 2 tiers of 3-light windows N and S, all with chamfered surrounds, 4-centred heads and hoodmoulds; hollow-chamfered wood tracery to windows with quatrefoils to spandrels. 2 tiers of 2-light windows to W end of aisles with similar surrounds, Y-tracery with quatrefoils to heads and hoodmoulds. Offset buttresses between bays and diagonal offset buttresses to angles. 3-stage tower is built clear of body of church with short link to nave incorporating a newel stair either side, that to S leading down to heating chamber, that to S serving tower. Tower has large W doorway approached by 2 stone steps with chamfered surround, 2-centred head and hoodmould; Gothic panelled double-leaf doors and leaded overlight. Original iron lamp in bracket above. Middle stage has tall 2-light windows with Y-tracery, end hoodmoulds. Clock faces above windows with moulded stone surrounds and convex painted iron faces. Bell-chamber openings to top stage with similar tracery and hoodmoulds. Diagonal offset buttresses, 2 string courses and battlemented parapet. Flagstaff on roof with gilded dolphin weathervane. Single-storey vestries either side have a 2-light window to N, S & W sides with hoodmoulds and doorway to E side within short screen walls to gap between vestries and aisles, which have chamfered Tudor-arched doorways and coped parapets. Vestries have flat roofs and battlemented parapets. Chamfered plinths and battlemented parapets to body of church and eastern projection. INTERIOR: sanctuary has offset to side walls about half way up with ornamented cresting. Reredos removed from predecessor's church to which it was given in 1736 by Richard Pennel: it is of mahogany and has tripartite composition with Corinthian pilasters and open pediment; it displays the Lord's Prayer to the left, the Creed to the right and the Commandments in 2 panels to the centre; above outer panels at capital level winged cherubs' heads with flower swags and a dove or eagle in glory emerging from clouds above central panels and projecting into pediment, all carved in relief and gilded. C19 altar rail of mahogany on wrought-iron balustrade, the rails terminating in winged angels' heads either side of entry to Sanctuary. The nave arcades support galleries round 3 sides of nave at mid-height and a plaster rib vault. The columns are of pine from Trinity Newfoundland and are composed of 4 circular shafts bolted together to give piers of quatrefoil sections rising to plain capitals with circular top moulding. Galleries have panelled fronts. Royal Arms of George IV of carved and painted wood to centre to W gallery front presented by the Mayor of Poole George Welch Ledgard in 1821. Gallery clock of same date signed WATTS POOLE. Screen at W end of nave, inscribed on vestibule side with benefactors from 1612 to present day. Early C19 font of mahogany with tripod base on castors, stem of 3 clustered shafts with bell-shaped capital and circular bowl with quatrefoil ornament in lozenges which project below with pendant finials; reeded cover rising to urn finial. St Paul's chapel at E end of S aisle: C18 communion table of mahogany and reredos of C18 panelling with fluted pilasters and incorporating 5 Renaissance panels with grotesque ornament. Organ at E end of N aisle removed from W gallery presented to church in 1799 by Benjamin Lester with pipework from organ of St John at Hackney by Sneteler. Brass lectern of 1887 and oak pulpit of 1894. E window, called the Mariners Window of 1897. MEMORIALS: extensive series of wall monuments, many removed from old church, including brass inscription plaque to Edward Man d.1608, another to Edward Man, 1622; white marble wall monument to George Lewen d.1718, a cartouche on a draped background with cherubs' heads and scull above acanthus bracket; another to Sir William Phippard MP, d.1724, of veined white marble with cherubs' head and urn finial erected 1774 and signed M Meatyard. Other leading citizens commemorated include Peter Jolliff, d.1730, on white marble drapery tablet surmounted by cartouche of arms, erected 1737; Sir Peter Thompson FSA, MP for St Albans d.1770 on white marble tablet surmounted by flat obelisk with coat of arms; William Spurrier d.1809 on a white marble tablet surmounted by draped female mourner clasping funerary urn, signed I Hiscock, and Thomas Parr, deputy provincial Grand Master, d.1824, on tall white marble wall monument in S gallery, carved in relief with cherubs and masonic symbols to head, erected by his brethren. HISTORICAL NOTE: the first mention of a church at Poole is in 1142, when the chapel of St James was given to endow the new Priory of Bradenstoke, Wilts together with the church of Canford (qv). The decision to rebuild the medieval parish church was taken in February 1819 but the rebuilding of the tower was not agreed upon until January 1820, which probably explains why it is a semi-independent structure. The original architects' model survives showing some features which were not finally executed: the tower was to have a spire with a ball finial and the eastern projection was to be divided into 2 floors with a vestry on the ground floor, and a Sunday school on the first floor, and to have 2 tiers of windows with a quatrefoil window to the gable. The foundation stone was laid 31 May 1819. The total cost of rebuilding was »11,740 to which the parish contributed »6,000, the Corporation »1,000 and subscribers »2,010. The tower cost »2,730. A stone tablet in the tower on E wall of first floor is inscribed 'This church was erected AD 1820 Revd Pet' Wm Joliffe Minister, JB Bloomfield Rob' Slade Jun' Churchwards Thos Benham, Builder'. The new church was opened on Easter Monday 23 April 1821, St Georges' Day. The rebuilding of St James's was the culmination of the almost complete rebuilding of the town which took place between 1700 and the early C19, the period of Poole's greatest prosperity. St James's is an exceptionally complete and virtually unaltered late Georgian church of high architectural quality. (RCHME: County of Dorset (South East): London: 1970-: 192-195; Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Newman J: Dorset: London: 1972-; Poole Parish Church: A History and Guide: Poole: 1989-).

Listing NGR: SZ0084190438

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

412453

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Dorset II South East, (1970), 192-195
Poole Parish Church A History and Guide, (1989)
Pevsner, N, Newman, J, The Buildings of England: Dorset, (1972)

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