Church Heritage Record 610017

5-bay aisled nave and chancel with clerestory. South porch and north-west choir vestry. Lady Chapel at east end of north aisle and vestry and organ chamber at east end of south aisle. A flower room at the west end of the north aisle connects the church to the hall.

[Approximate] Nave 18m (60ft) wide x 12m (40ft) long, aisles 4m (13ft) wide, chancel 8m (26ft) long.

St James was built c.1908 as recorded in a foundation stone east of the south porch (due to erosion a bronze plaque was cast in 1952 to record the inscription and hangs on the west wall inside). It is understood that a temporary tin church had previously occupied the site.

Plans inside the church detail the intention to provide 549 sittings and show the proposal to have had an additional bay at the west end, for two further bays at the east end and for a south-east tower. The plans are signed by Frederick Meeks, a Horsham based architect, but an ICBS application records the architects as Charles Godman and Frederick Wheeler who were in partnership in Horsham 1907-21.

A plaque at the west end of the church records rebuilding of the west wall in 1949-51 and the construction of the choir vestry on the north side in 1951-52. The shallow western baptistery extension was added in 1967.

The site is of some archaeological potential. It is recorded that two Neolithic flint axes and a pick were found on the site during the church’s construction in 1908. In addition a high number of archaeological finds, including Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman, have been recorded within the local area. The Historic Environment Record should be checked prior to any development of the site. There are no designations relating to the ecology of the site.

The rubble flint church has a brick plinth. It has a tall nave which the aisle roofs rise to meet. A low roof over a later baptistery extension projects at the west end. In the aisles each bay has a group of 3-light lancet windows with brick mullions and surrounds, containing clear square-paned glass. The same formation is repeated in the clearstory. Brick and stone buttresses rise to the wooden eaves of the aisles and mark the bay divisions. At the east end unfinished brickwork is evident to either side where the building was never completed as intended. At the east end of the north aisle the outline of an arch which would presumably have formed a doorway. As the intended chancel was never built, the chancel sits within the nave, consequently the roof is of one height. A projecting gabled south porch with a central stone ogee arch and stone kneelers with an empty niche in the apex.

Entry is made through two sets of modern glazed wood doors in the south porch. The interior of the church is wide, open and high. Light is optimised by the use of clear glass, with cathedral glass in the three lancet windows at the east end. Additional light from modern spot-lights and pendant lights fixed near the south porch and the north door into the choir vestry.

Octagonal stone piers carry pointed arches forming six-bay arcades either side of the nave. The remainder of the walls are of exposed brick laid in English Bond. At the west end a stone-clad lintel at the height of the aisles forms the baptistery below it, a long rectangular window has been inserted in the west wall. Above it, an expanse of blank brick wall with the form of a cross made out in relief in brick, set within the apex of the gable. The roof is constructed of alternating arch-braced trusses (supported by corbels between the clerestory windows) and basic A-frame trusses. Wooden boarding behind them.

The nave floor is of one level with woodblocks laid in a herringbone pattern. The central aisle is carpeted. Seating is provided by simple pews in stained softwood, numbers are still evident on the ends of some. Colour is introduced by a lively array of tapestry kneelers. The south aisle has been cleared. At its west end a niche has been formed out of an intended doorway (visible from the outside). Doors in the north-west corner of the north aisle link to the choir vestry and a small room which leads through to the church hall. The west end of the north aisle has also been cleared to provide a children's area. At its east end stone memorial plaques are set in the floor and may mark interred ashes.

The Lady Chapel at the east end of the north aisle retains its pews and has its own altar. In the north wall a recessed niche is set within the blocked doorway visible from the outside. At the east end of the south aisle is the organ chamber and former vestry.

Both the chancel and Lady Chapel have boarded floors which are carpeted and raised from the nave by a single step. Fixed north and south of the chancel are stained wood choir stalls of simple design, missing their frontals. The organ pipes are visible to the south. In the penultimate bay a single step rises to the sanctuary with the high altar raised on three further steps. The east wall is wood panelled. A wood partition to the south divides the sanctuary from the vestry/office. In front of it an oak sedilia. The arcade between the chancel and Lady Chapel is open.