Description

TL 31NW STANSTEAD ABBOTS ROYDON ROAD
(north side)
Tarbets Hill
5/43 Old Church of St James

24.1.67

GV I

Church, now vested in Redundant Churches Fund. Nave probably
C12, chancel without structural division C13, W tower and S porch
C15, large NE chapel in brick dated 1577 in relief panel on E
gable. Uncoursed flint rubble incorporating Roman tiles, C16
brickwork in NE chapel and E end of chancel, stone dressings. Old
red tiled roofs. Continuous roof over nave and chancel. Short
leaded spire with tiled lower slopes. Timber-framed S-porch with
cusped original bargeboards, 3-centred arched entrance and crown-
post roof on cambered tie-beams. C13 S-door of 2 chamfered
orders, next window on W C13 altered in C15, when 2 2-light
traceried windows were also inserted to the E of the porch. No
openings but blocked doorway in N wall of nave. C15 crown-post
roof of 3 bays plastered under the collars, continues over 2-
bay chancel without crown-post on the cambered tie beam. Lower
part of C15 screen built into pews. Chancel has C15 3-light E
window, 4-bay N arcade on octagonal piers (3 western bays of
1577: E bay later). 2 2-light C15 windows in S wall, and a C13
double piscina. NE chapel has plastered waggon roof, Perp E
window of 3 4-centred lights under a 4-centred arch, 2 2-light N
windows (straight-headed under hoodmoulds), and a small W door.
Tall 2-stage embattled tower with diagonal buttresses and
projecting polygonal SE stair turret carried above the parapet.
Early C15 tower arch of 2 moulded orders with shafted jambs and
moulded caps. Contemporary W door of 2 moulded orders, the outer
square, 3-light window over door, and 2-light bell chamber
openings with quartrefoil and hood mould over. Fittings include
C13 circular font on octagonal C15 pedestal, C16 2-decker pulpit
(inlaid tester now door in tower screen), heraldic stained glass
in NE chapel dated 1573, Royal Arms and commandment boards on E
wall, 3 hatchments and a Tortoise stove in the Nave, medieval S
door, head of tower screen said to be C15 rood beam, wall
monument to Sir Edward Baeshe 1587 on N wall of chapel and
painted inscriptions on N and E walls, brasses in chancel and
nave, 3 bells of 1605, 1617 and 1790, 2 wall monuments by the
younger Bacon (Paul Fielde 1805 and Robert Jocelyn 1806), tablets
in nave including Philip Booth 1818 by Bacon and Manning, H T
Baucutt Nash 1825 by Kendrick, Mary Booth 1848, and Sir Felix
Booth 1850 both by Manning. Whitewashed interior with box pews
and nave pulpit on S wall preserves the C18 village character.
On a conspicuous hilltop site overlooking the Lea marshes. Of
outstanding interest as a medieval church with unrestored C18
interior. (RCHM (1911) 209-10, VCH (1912) 371-2, Pevsner (1977)
342).

Listing NGR: TL3997211061

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St James' Church, Stanstead Abbotts at Wikipedia
• St James' Church, Stanstead Abbotts official website
• Wikidata Q7593451

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

• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)