Church of St James, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire

Description

GRIMSBY

TA2609SE CHURCH LANE
699-1/21/23 (North side)
06/06/51 Church of St James
(Formerly Listed as:
DEANSGATE
(East side)
Parish Church of St James)

GV I

Parish church. C13 nave and transepts; C14 nave arcade piers,
crossing dated 1365. C18 subdivision and rebuilding of nave
aisles. Restorations of 1858-9 by Charles Ainslie included
partial rebuilding of transepts, inserting ringing gallery in
tower, reflooring, reseating. Restorations of 1874-85 by RJ
Withers included new roof and upper part of west end of nave,
new chancel and south porch. North Lady Chapel of 1904-6 by GF
Bodley, on site of chancel north aisle. Aisle windows replaced
1909-10 by TG Jackson. South chapel of the Resurrection
(partly replacing south chancel aisle) and attached vestry by
Sir Charles Nicholson, 1920. Repairs to windows and north
transept following wartime bomb damage, by Nicholson 1950-2.
Work in 1970s-80s included repairs to tower and south transept
doorway, reseating, insertion of dais in crossing.
MATERIALS: limestone ashlar, with some coursed rubble and
squared stone to the transepts and nave west side. Slate
roofs.
PLAN: Cruciform. 3-bay chancel with 2-bay north and south
chapels, south vestry; 6-bay aisled nave with single-bay
transepts, south porch and west door.
EXTERIOR: nave, chancel and transepts have angle turrets with
square bases and octagonal upper sections with string courses
and corbel tables to short stone spires.
Chancel: deep moulded plinth with 1882 datestone; east side
with sill string course, triple lancets with nookshafts and
filleted arches; above, small stepped lancets in
double-chamfered reveals with sill string course, pierced
quatrefoil, dogtooth-moulded sting course and gable coping.
North and south sides have clerestory with pilaster
buttresses, sill string course and round-arched and pointed
single-light windows in double-chamfered reveals; corbel-table
with some head corbels.
Gabled north chapel: chamfered plinth, buttresses; 3 stepped
2-light east windows with Curvilinear tracery and hoodmoulds;
2 pointed traceried 2-light north windows.
South chapel: east side incorporates C13 moulded plinth and

lower wall with pilaster buttresses; remainder is C20, with
pointed 4-light east window with Perpendicular tracery;
buttresses and chamfered plinth with datestone to south side,
with sill string course, pair of square-headed 4-light
traceried windows, coped embattled parapet with crenellated
finials. Vestry has plinth, buttresses, pointed arched door
beneath ogee hood, square-headed windows with cinquefoiled
lights, coped parapet.
North transept: C19-C20 rebuilt north side with pointed
double-chamfered door flanked by a pointed chamfered blind
arch to left and a low chamfered segmental-arched recess to
right. Above, a pair of pointed 2-light windows with
Perpendicular tracery and continuous hoodmould; small stepped
lancets, coped gable.
South transept: moulded plinth. South side has projecting
central section with pointed C13 doorway of 4 orders with
restored shafts on original bases, partly-restored arch with
keeled mouldings and dogtooth-moulded hood. Above, string
course and a wide central pointed blind arch flanked by single
lancets, all with shafted reveals and roll-moulded arches.
Above this, a small triple window with diagonally-set
mullions, moulded capitals, keeled arches and hoodmoulds with
dogtooth moulding. Dogtooth-moulded coping to gable. Both
transepts have single west lancets with hoodmoulds and corbel
tables to east and west sides with some head-corbels.
Central tower has 2 main stages, pointed stair turret to
south-east angle. Lower stage has square-headed 2-light cusped
windows. Main belfry stage has arcaded sides with pairs of
tall pointed arched blind panels containing pairs of pointed
2-light transomed windows with Perpendicular tracery, sill
string courses and continuous hoodmoulds. Dogtooth-moulded
string course, ornate parapet with blind arcade of pointed
2-light cusped panels with 9 finials to each side and
crocketed angle pinnacles.
Nave aisles: C19 buttresses between bays with offsets and
gabled caps; C19 pointed 3-light windows with Curvilinear
tracery. South porch has restored C13 pointed outer doorway of
3 orders with triple shafts, moulded capitals and moulded arch
with fillet, keeled and dogtooth mouldings; coped gable and
parapet. C18 round-headed inner door with keyed arch and
radial fanlight.
Nave: clerestory with 7 irregularly-spaced lancets, corbel
table and coped parapet.
West front: angle turret to left largely restored; central
section of roughly-squared stone, with restored round-arched
doorway of 4 orders with keeled and filleted shafts, and a
roll-moulded and keeled arch beneath a brick relieving arch.
C19 ashlar section above has 3 lancets with narrower blind

lancets between, all with shafted reveals and keeled arches;
vesica window above in keeled reveal; dogtooth-moulded string
course and coped gable.
INTERIOR: chancel north and south walls have pointed moulded
arches on keeled and round shafts; triforium wall-passage
screen with stepped trefoiled triple arches on triple shafts.
Sedilia with nook-shafts and keeled arches. Triple
wall-shafts, those to east flanking the windows.
Lady Chapel: windows with moulded reveals and hoodmoulds.
South chapel: arcaded passage with 4-centred arches on tall
shafted piers; panelled plaster ceiling. Crossing has tall
pointed moulded arches on octagonal piers with trefoiled ogee
panels; 1365 inscription on north-east pier.
North transept: has 2-bay east arcade with pointed
roll-moulded arches on clustered pier and responds with keeled
shafts, inserted moulded and shafted arches to 1905 chapel;
west triforium arcade with keeled arches on alternate round
and triple keeled shafts.
South transept: has single pointed moulded east arch on
clustered responds similar to north transept arcade, with an
inserted triple-chamfered arch to chapel dated 1921; west
triforium similar to north transept but with alternating round
and twin shafts with dogtooth moulding.
Nave: arcades of pointed roll-moulded arches with hoodmoulds
and head stops on clustered piers with filleted shafts and
octagonal abaci. Immediately above is a wall-passage screen to
the clerestory with an irregular sequence of tall and low
keeled arches on slender triple shafts with keeled and fillet
mouldings.
Roofs C19 and later, arch-braced to transepts and nave,
panelled to chancel.
FITTINGS: include C14 octagonal font with panelled sides on a
C13 shafted base; C18 font cover. Ornate 1910 pulpit.
Fragments of C14-C15 wooden screen in south porch with nodding
crocketed arches and Perpendicular tracery. Chancel screen and
altar rails of 1926 by Sir Charles Nicholson; reredos of 1972.
C17 wood panelling in baptistry brought from Stapleton House,
Doncaster.
STAINED GLASS: in transepts of 1943 by H Easton, and in Lady
Chapel by L Evetts.
MONUMENTS: include C15 knight effigy of Sir Thomas Haslerton
in Lady Chapel, brought from St Leonards Nunnery, Grimsby
after the Dissolution. Wall tablet in south transept to
Rebecca Thompson of 1729 with cartouche, cherubs and winged
skull; tablets in north transept to C and A Hildyard of 1728,
to George Rye of 1808 by Stimson; tablets in south aisle to
Elizabeth Bell of 1829 by Edward Baily of London, to T
Williamson of 1826; wooden plaque to Mary Riggall of 1830.

(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N, Harris J, and Antram N:
Lincolnshire: London: 1989-: 337-8; Grimsby Planning
Department: Central Conservation Area: Grimsby Borough
Council: 1990-: MAP; The parish church of St James, a
walk-round guide: Grimsby: 1987-; Grimsby Borough Councilþ:
Top Town Trail: Grimsby: 1989-: NO.2).

Listing NGR: TA2663409169

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Church of St James

A Grade I Listed Building in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire

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