Description

BERWICK ST. JAMES HIGH STREET
SU 03 NE
(east side)
3/5
Church of St. James
23.3.60.
GV I
Anglican parish church. C12, C13, C14, C16, C17, restored 1871.
Limestone and flint, tiled or leaded roof. Plan: west tower, nave
with side chapels, chancel with lean-to vestry, north porch.
Gabled porch, formerly 2-storey, has double hollow-chamfered
pointed doorway, probably C16, diagonal buttress to west side, 4-
light C16 cusped mullioned window to east wall, coped verge and
1871 datestone to gable. North chapel to left has single-light
cusped C16 window and 3-light C16 window to east, lead roof. Nave
clerestory has moulded string course and 2-light C16 cusped window
to right of porch and 3-light to left, string course to parapet
with saddleback coping. Ashlar stack to left, sanctus cross.
North side of chancel has pair of chamfered lancets and single
lancet to left of C19 lean-to vestry with chamfered doorway and
square window. East end has pilaster and angle buttresses and
stepped triple lancets, south side has central pair of lancets
flanked by single lancets, C14 cusped lancet to left, buttresses
with offsets. South chapel has 2-light C16 cusped window and pair
of cusped ogee lancets. South side of nave has blocked shouldered
doorway, C14 two-light cusped ogee window to left, offset string
course to clerestory; two 2-light and one single-light C16 cusped
windows, parapet as north side. Two stage tower has angle
buttresses and chamfered round-headed windows, offset bellstage
with paired round-headed louvred windows, string course to
battlemented parapet, datestone on north side: WIL.SNOW/THO.
GILBERT/CHURCH/WARDENS/1670.
Interior: Largely unrestored; porch retains 3 stone corbels for
removed upper floor, stone bench, fine C12 round-headed doorway
with zig-zag ornament, plain tympanum with some incised lozenge
decoration to square-headed door lintel, attached shafts with
scalloped capitals, good ribbed door. Nave with 3-bay carefully
restored roof; shallow-pitched king-post trusses with moulded
timbers, curved bracing to carved head corbels, probably C16.
Continuously chamfered pointed tower arch with broach stops.
Blocked moulded elliptically-arched doorway with broken crockets on
north wall, formerly to pulpit. North chapel has Transitional
pointed arch with nailhead ornament, chamfered responds with
moulded capitals and similarly moulded doorway to right, lean-to
roof with chamfered timbers. South chapel has chamfered round arch
with similar responds as north, broach stops, cusped ogee piscina
on south wall. Continuously chamfered chancel arch with broach
stops, chancel has C19 scissor-rafter roof, ogee cusped lancet and
C13 lancet on north wall, opposite those to south, now within
vestry, continuous roll-moulded sills cut by C14 lancets; each
with small cusped recess, chamfered rere-arches to C13 lancets.
Fittings: good late C17 communion rail with turned balusters and
vase finials, late Medieval carved stone pulpit, moved from north
wall in C19, with arched panels on moulded corbelling, C12 stone
cylindrical font on pedestal with moulded plinth, wooden cover with
finial, good Cl9 oak pews. Two classical marble tablets in
chancel to Pinckney family; one with urn and drapery to Robert by
Osmond of Sarum, died 1823, the other to another Robert died 1836.
(N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England; Wiltshire, 1975; Church
Guide.)

Listing NGR: SU0718439158

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529508

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings