Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 20 January 2025 to update details in the description and to reformat the text to current standards

SU 25 SE, 9/244

LUDGERSHALL,
ST JAMES' STREET (west side),
Church of St James

27.05.64

I

Anglican parish church. C12, C13, C14 and C16, restored 1873 by J. L. Pearson. Flint with limestone quoining. Alternating limestone and greensand in C12 work. Slate roofs, but chancel retiled in C20. Long nave of C12 with tiled C19 south porch. Chancel early C13. North transept C14, south transept also C14 but altered in C16. C12 west tower, heightened in 1873. Nave has three- light C16 windows with cinquefoils in square heads. Large pilaster buttresses at west end. On north side, one small C12 round-headed window. Two-light C14 windows with ogee tracery and C19 copy. Blocked C12 door on north. Chancel early C13, with three small lancets each side and three lancets at east end, restored. North chapel has similar C14 windows and C19 north window. Bench mark. South chapel rebuilt as chantry in C16, with C15 moulded door reset, and chamfered three-light windows. Tower has early medieval lower stage with angle buttresses and small, possibly late Anglo Saxon, monolithic window on south side. Two-light west window replacing a C12 window. Lancets to second stage and two-light openings to C19 top stage with corner pinnacles. Inscription on north face dated 1675-1678, and inset stone on south face reading FEPMCNTM 1675 (churchwardens' initials).

INTERIOR: Nave plastered and whitened. Simple C19 roof of seven bays. Two centred tower arch on square responds, cornice moulding on south side original. Tall inner round headed arches to opposing entrance doors. Inner door of porch C14. Chamfered arches to chapels, that on north with carved grotesque heads. No chancel arch but rood stair, blocked, in north pier. South chapel arch altered. Chancel has wide reveals and two-centred chamfered inner rere-arches to window. Blocked south priest's door. Four bay C19 roof. Trefoil headed piscina. Gothic stone reredos of C19 restoration with mosaic in triple central cusped arched and crocketed gables. North chapel has piscina with credence shelf. South chapel has high ceiling and double cusped piscina with shelf. Low side chancel window with ogee head incorporated in chapel. C16 moulded panelled oak door.

FITTINGS: Font at west end, probably C15, limestone, octagonal on base. Pulpit: Facetted oak on stone base. Choir stalls of 1873.

FURNITURE: Walker organ in handsome mahogany and walnut case. Bow-fronted late C18 chest of drawers. In south chapel, Parish chest of 1693 and communion table of same date.

MONUMENTS: South chapel converted to Brydges Chantry, 1553, with large monument set under entrance arch. Chest tomb with slab and effigies of Sir Richard Brydges in dress armour, and wife in black surcoat. Four-centred canopy over on fluted bulbous Corinthian columns. Arms and flanking ornament in spandrels. Flanking chest are tall tapered Corinthian columns supporting entablature, with roundel supported by angels in frieze. Arms in aedicule cresting flanked by jolly cupids. On chest, three daughters and two sons in natural varied attitudes, one with pet dog. Carved ornamentation on pedestals. Draped angel on soffit of arch holding figures. An important work of the early Renaissance in England, restored and repainted by the Pilgrim Trust. In north chapel, two wall monuments, (a) Limestone tablet with cornice and apron. Mid C18. Not read. (b) A C19 marble wall tablet.

In nave: A wall tablet, white marble on grey. Two slabs with arms over, to Charles Green, died 1830, and wife and daughter. By south door, a small section of carving said to be part of an Anglo Saxon cross, reset in 1873.

Listing NGR: SU2632250886

External Links

• Wikidata Q17529393

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