Description

SARSDEN
SP22SE
7/187
Church of St. James

GV II

Parish church. 1760, extended 1823 by G.S. Repton, restored 1896 by W.E. Mills.
Limestone ashlar to north and east sides and porch, regularly coursed and
dressed rubble to south, rendered to west; stone slate roof with coped verges on
projecting kneelers. Nave; chancel; transepts, north-east vestry and south-west
porch. Nave. North side has C18 or c.1823 round-headed windows with moulded
architraves, plain imposts and projecting keystones to left and right of central
6-panel doors with similar architrave and leaded fanlight, approached by flight
of 3 steps. South side has 3 round-headed windows like those on north but with
plain architraves. Porch (1823) to south-west corner has moulded cornice and
embattled parapet. Paired pointed Gothic windows with dripstone to east side,
blind pointed opening to south side and pointed doorway with Gothic panelled
door approached by flight of steps on west side. Moulded impost band to pointed
doorway and blind opening and moulded plinth to doorway continued round to other
sides. Blind mock gun-loop above doorway to west. North transept (1823) has 3
stepped round-headed windows (1896) to north wall and gabled bellcote (also
1896) with round-headed opening. Single-light round-headed window in east wall.
South transept has round-arched leaded window with inner round-headed arch
linked to outer by transoms and radiating mullions near top of arch. Hip-roofed
vestry in angle to east has single-light round-headed window in south wall.
Chancel with chamfered plinth has semi-circular hoodmould over low-relief roundel
with Maltese cross. East wall has round-headed window like that in south
transept; stone cross to gable. Interior. Considerably restored 1896. Dado
panelling may be partly 1760 but mainly late C19. Nave benches, choir stalls,
octagonal font and wooden pulpit all late C19. Plastered barrel-vaulted roofs to
nave, chancel and transepts with plain quadripartite vault to crossing. C19
communion rails incorporate C18 barley sugar balusters with sprouting foliage
carving to bases. No monuments of note. No connection from main body of church
to porch. An engraving in Skelton shows the church, presumably before the
remodelling of 1823.
(Buildings of England: 0xfordshire: p752j Joseph Skelton: The Antiquities of
Oxfordshire (1823)", p59; Bodleian Library, Oxford: HS.Top.oxon. a.68, no.452)
[2637]

Listing NGR: SP2894623007

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26496134

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)