Description

TR 25 NE
5/236

STAPLE
THE STREET (north side)
Church of St James

11.10.63

GV
I
Parish Church. C12 origins, C14 fenestration, restored by Street 1868-69. Flint with plain tiled roofs. Chancel and nave in one build, north aisle to nave, north chapel to chancel, south porch and west tower.

Two stage tower with offset clasping buttresses, string course and battlements. Lancet windows in upper stage, moulded western doorway with attached shafts. Nave and chancel with five offset buttresses, largely C19, and C19 south porch, with C16 six panelled and ribbed door. Chancel east window c.1300, five cinquefoiled lights under hood mould, one small lancet to chancel south wall, C14 and C15 style windows elsewhere, as much Street's restorations as original. Large brick buttress between nave and tower to north west.

Interior: unmoulded pointed tower arch with scalloped wall brackets set in wall to left and right. North arcade of three bays, C15, with double chamfered arches, piers with clustered shafts, and responds with attached shafts. Nave and chancel roof in one build, six crown posts in nave and two in chancel on moulded knee-braces. North aisle with lean-to roof on crenellated wall plate and moulded cross-beams. Single arch with double chamfer from chancel to north chapel, with C19 side doorway. Braced rafter roof in north chapel.

Fittings: trecusped piscina and small trecusped aumbry on north wall in chancel. C16 screen from north aisle to chapel, four bays with solid lower panels on either side of central restored door. Crenellated top beam. C15 font on double stepped base, octagonal bowl and stem, the bowl decorated with symbols of four evangelists alternating with demi-angels, pilgrim and the Trinity. Stem with lions and wild men. Ornate chandelier of brass and possibly wood in tower.

Monuments: in the chapel a good series. Identical pair of tablets to John Lynch d.1732, with white plaque and grey marble surround, fluted Doric pilasters with frieze and open pediment with achievement over. Oval wall tablets to Lynch family with moulded surrounds and acanthus motifs, and to John Squire, d.1661. John Clarke, 1691, wall tablet with draped and foliated scrolled sides, egg and tongue frieze and cornice and scrolled base with crossed olive sprigs. William Lynch, d.1785. Wall plaque on brackets with coat of arms as base. Ribboned portrait medallion, on base decorated with star and ribbon of Order of Bath. In the north aisle, large white marble wall plaque to Gratianus Lynch, d.1674, with architectural surround, black marble Ionic columns and foliated scrolls with open segmental pediment and achievement, all on enriched bracketed base. Tablets with draped urns, to Reverend William Tatton, d.1782, and Terry Marsh, d.1789, both by Longley of Canterbury.

Brass: in north chapel, about two foot high brass of a civilian, early C16.

Listing NGR: TR2673656692

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529716

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)