Description

ODDINGLEY CP CHURCH LANE (south side) SO 95 NW 6/195 (18/1C) Church of St James 14.3.69 GV II*

Parish church. C15, altered C17, restored 1851 by R C Hussey for John H Galton with further alterations in 1860. Lias limestone rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings and plain tiled roofs. West tower, two-bay nave with transepts and south porch, two-bay chancel. Mainly Perpendicular style. West tower: C17; three stages with strings, diagonal buttresses with off-sets at west end; 3-light west window probably original west window of nave reset when the tower was added; second stage has small rectangular lights in its north and south elevations; belfry stage has paired louvred round-headed lights in each eleva- tion; above is a pyramidal roof. Nave: C15; adjacent to the tower are opposed doorways set immediately west of low buttresses not bonded to the nave walls; this suggests that the original nave was longer; windows of nave and transepts are C15, square-headed and restored; north elevation has a 2-light window and the doorway opposing the south entrance is of a single chamfered order with a 4-centred head and is now blocked; the south elevation has a 3-light window with a similar entrance doorway. To the right of the door is a small niche once occupied by a stoup. Transepts both have a gable end 3-light pointed- arched window and a 2-light window in both side elevations; the west window of the north transept is probably a later insertion. South porch: rebuilt 1860; gabled timber-framed on sandstone base; moulded pierced and scalloped barge- boards, arch-braced roof trusses and 5-light splayed wood-mullioned openings each side. Chancel: rebuilt 1861; 3-light C19 east window with 4-centred head; north elevation has a 2-light window and south elevation has a 2-light western- most window, a rectangular light and between them a door with a 4-centred head; all is reset C15 work. Interior: pointed tower arch and north transept arch; no chancel arch but walls return on both sides to walls of wider nave; south transept has a C15 moulded timber archway, the east post stands short of the east jamb providing access to the pulpit and probably originally to provide space for the roof-loft stair. Roofs are C19 and plastered with ornamental arch-braced collar trusses. In the chancel two moulded corbels flank the east window; pointed-arched piscina with corbelled basin; C17 altar rails. The font is recut C15 work, octagonal with alternating roses and fetterlocks carved on the lower edge of the basin. Oak pews are made up of re-used C17 woodwork. C15 dug-out parish chest in south porch and also C17 dug-out parish chest in tower. Memorials: mid-C19 wall memorial in chancel to the Tookey family by P Hollins; mid-C19 brass in nave to Robert Cameron Galton formerly in Hadzor church; three ledger slabs in chancel, one to John Crump, died 1657, one very worn slab to Bridget Patrick, died 1967, and one to George Parker, a rector murdered in 1806. Glass: fragments of C15 glass in chancel east window, north window and south-east window. Although much restored this small church retains a number of C15 features of particular interest. (VCH 3 (ii) p 459-60; BoE, p 227-8).

Listing NGR: SO9144859050

External Links

• Church of St James official website
• Wikidata Q17548301

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014