Description

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 3-
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 3-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 2-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 2-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: Williams 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

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529393

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (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)