Church of St James

Details

NUNEATON AND BEDWORTH SCHOOL ROAD SP38NE (North side) Bulkington 5/66 Church of St. James 01/07/49 (Formerly listed as Parish Church of St. James) GV II*

Church. Early C13 nave and south aisle, late C13 north aisle; south aisle altered c,1300; C14 chancel; C14/C15 tower; C15/C16 south clerestory. Restored, roofs renewed and vestry added 1865 by G.T.Robinson. Tower restored and porch added 1907. Regular coursed and ashlar sandstone of various types; porch of regular coursed limestone. Tile roofs have C19 coped gable parapets and cross finials; south aisle has lead lean-to roof with moulded cornice and parapet. Aisled nave, chancel, west tower, north vestry, south porch. 2-bay chancel, 5-bay nave. Chancel has splay and moulded plinth, stepped down on east wall. Angle and south buttresses of 3 offsets. 4-light Perpendicular east window has renewed tracery. Most windows throughout have hood moulds. South doorway has deep hollow-chamfered ogee arch and C19 plank door. Two 2-light windows to north and south have renewed Decorated tracery. Vestry has 2-light mullioned east window with decorative chamfering, and large external stack to north. Aisles and porch have splay plinth. Porch has buttresses of 2 offsets flush with front. Early English-style doorway has moulded arch and nook shafts, and double-leaf plank doors. Straight-headed windows of 2 ogee lights. South aisle has diagonal and south buttresses with splayed offsets; south east buttress has gablet. East side and second bay from east have windows of c.1300 with cusped Y-tracery and roll-mouldings, largely restored to east. Large C15/C16 straight-headed south-east window of 3 Tudor-arched lights. 2-light windows east and west of porch and to west have C19 geometrical tracery. Straight-headed 3-light Perpendicular clerestory windows. North aisle has angle and 2 north buttresses of 2 offsets. 3-light east and west windows have reticulated tracery. Renewed 2-light, and -3-light north east, straight-headed Perpendicular windows. Blocked doorway of 2 chamfered orders. Perpendicular tower of 2 high stages has splay and. moulded plinth. Diagonal buttresses of 4 offsets with ogee niche to top stage. Elaborately moulded Tudor arch west doorway has hood would with remains of crocketing. Studded and panelled door has applied tracery. Large 3-light window has panel tracery, largely renewed, and hood mould with finial, crocketing and head stops. Second stage has small trefoiled ogee opening with crocketed gable; south side has similar windows with remains of carved beasts to staircase in west corner, and painted clock face to second stage. Tudor-arched 2- light bell-chamber openings have transom and louvres. Embattled parapet has crocketed pinnacles. Interior is plastered. Chancel has boarded 4-bay barrel roof with moulded arched braces and moulded stone corbels and cornice. Early English-style north and chancel arches of 1865. North arch of 2 elaborately moulded orders, the inner on colonnettes, with stiff-leaf capitals. Aumbry to south has ogee arch and leaf carving. Squint in south west corner. Chancel arch of 1865 of 3 moulded orders and composite piers with large stiff-leaf capitals, on high pedestals. Nave has 5-bay arched brace roof with carved stone corbels. Early C13 north and late C13 south 5-bay arcades of 2 chamfered orders, octagonal piers and half-octagon responds; south arcade has rudimentary crocket capitals; north arcade has moulded capitals. Carved heads between arches are all C19 except that to the north west. Tower arch of 2 chamfered orders. North aisle has arched brace roof. Late C13 tomb recess in north wall has moulded inner and chamfered outer orders, and remains of shafts. South aisle has lean-to roof. Fittings: font carved and given by Richard Hayward of Weston Hall (q.v.) in 1789 has small white marble bowl with reliefs of the Baptism of Christ etc. on 3 dolphin feet; base made from an antique Roman column drum of coloured marble has oval panel with an inscription and date. Altar slab, now mounted on chancel north wall, has small oval relief of the Last Supper by Hayward. Box pews installed 1821. Encaustic tiles and other fittings of c.1865. Stained glass; east window dated 1867. Monuments: north aisle: wall monument to his parents by Hayward 1781. Relief of a mourning woman surrounded by Gothic ruins, and below a sarcophagus inscription panel and mourning angels. Mary Hayward, 1788, and Richard Hayward, 1800, possibly partly by Hayward: relief of a mourning woman by a sarcophagus, with oval panel below. (VCH: Warwickshire: VolVI, pp53-56; Buildings of England: Warwickshire: pp220; The Parish Church of St. James Bulkington (guide))

Listing NGR: SP3912086763

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

308607

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1947), 53-6
The Parish Church of St James Bulkington Church Guide, ()
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966), 220

End of official list entry