Description

SP9978 THRAPSTON CHURCH WALK
(South side)

16/160 Church of St. James
23/05/67

GV II*

Church. C13 and C14, nave and aisles rebuilt 1841/42, vestry rebuilt 1888.
Limestone ashlar nave, aisles and tower and squared coursed limestone chancel.
Lead roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, vestry and west tower. South elevation of
chancel of 2-window range of C14 tall 2-light windows with geometrical tracery
and transoms. Priest door between windows and single-stage buttresses to centre
and corner. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet and finial. Fine C14
five-light east window with geometrical tracery. North elevation of chancel is a
one-window range with tall C14 window similar to south elevation. Lean-to vestry
attached to right is a 2-window range of 2-light square-head windows with a door
in the return wall. South aisle is a 4-window range of C19 tall 2-light windows
with plain tracery and carved label stops. 2-stage ashlar buttresses between
windows and to corners. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets and blank east
and west elevations. North aisle is a similar 4-window range to south aisle.
Nave clerestory is a 4-window range of C19 two-light windows with 4-centred arch
heads. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapets and C20 ashlar stack at
south-east corner. Decorated west tower is of 5 irregular stages with a plinth.
4-stage clasping buttresses to lower 4 stages. West door has 2-centred arch head
with deeply splayed roll mouldings, 2-light window above, under 4-centred arch
head, has carved label stops. Single-light window to west face of fourth stage.
2-light bell-chamber openings with cusping and geometrical tracery to each face
of upper stage. Quatrefoil and diamond frieze with central gargoyles has corbel
table with castellated parapet above. Set-back octagonal ashlar spire has 3
tiers of lucarnes. Flat stair turret with lean-to roof is attached to north-east
corner of lower 4 stages and has small doorway with 4-centred arch head and 2
small quatrefoil windows. Various C19 memorial tablets attached to external
walls. Interior: 4-bay nave arcade of tall C19 Perpendicular style arches with
quatrefoil piers with central bands corresponding with the underside of the
gallery. Similar C19 chancel arch with triple-shafted responds. C14 triple
chamfered tower arch, with polygonal responds. Some C19 carved label stops to
nave and aisles. C19 chamfered and moulded arch, with plain responds, houses
organ, between chancel and vestry. Gallery around 3 sides of nave is c.1841/42
with panelled front and supporting cast-iron columns, some with caryatids. Some
original moulded beams to chancel roof and C19 roof structures to nave and
aisles. Staircases to gallery to rear of aisles, have stick balustrades. Double
piscina with central column and quatrefoil, to right of altar and triple sedilia
alongside, with cusped and crocketed ogee heads and cluster shafts. C19 chancel
screen, panelling, choir stalls and reredos. Box pews in gallery. Porch under
west tower has C19 glazed draught lobby with Gothick glazing bars. Monuments:
arms of Sir John Washington, C17 Mayor of Thrapston and ancestor of George
Washington, said to be reset from Montague House and Nos.3/5 Chancery Lane
(q.v.). Various C18 inscribed tablets in floor of chancel. Elizabeth Darnell
died 1831 and daughter, marble tablet, in chancel with seated figure above,
holding a medallion, by E. Physick. 2 early C19 inscribed brass tablets. Various
early/mid C19 inscribed marble tablets to walls of chancel and nave. Stained
glass: fragment of pre C19 glass in south-west chancel window, east window by
Wailes 1863, south-east chancel window is also C19. C19 octagonal font. Tablet
to rear of nave records rebuilding of c.1842 and increase in seating. A grant
was obtained for this work from the Incorporated Society for the enlargment of
buildings and repair of Churches.
(V.C.H.: Northamptonshire, Vol.3, p.139; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire,
p.430).

Listing NGR: SP9970378698

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17557873

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)