Tebay: St James

Name:
Tebay: St James
Record Type:
Church
Church code:
607030
Diocese:
Carlisle
Archdeaconry:
Carlisle
Parish:
Orton with Tebay

Statutory Designation Information

Listed Building?
This is a Grade II Listed Building
View more information about this Listed Building on the National Heritage List for England web site
Scheduled Monument?
There is no Scheduled Monument within the curtilage or precinct

National Park

The church is not in a National Park

Conservation Area

The church is not in a Conservation Area

Heritage At Risk Status

On Heritage At Risk Register?
This church is not on the Heritage at Risk Register
 

Approximate Date

Approximate Date:
Victorian/Pre-WWI

Exterior Image

Exterior image of 607030 Tebay St James
Caption:
Exterior image of 607030 Tebay St James
Description:
Photograph of the exterior of St James church Tebay taken 23 September 2016
Year / Date:
2016
Copyright:
Peter Moore
Originator:
Peter Moore

Summary Description

A most noteworthy church that reflects its key role in the railway village of Tebay. The coming of the railway in the mid-C19 saw the village grow and with it the expansion of its facilities. The church, designed by C.J.Ferguson in 1880, was built through money raised by the railway company and its workers. The Shap granite rock-faced building is cut into a slope with its walls chamfered at the bottom to give the appearance of spread and solidity. Ferguson designed the church as a single space with the internal walls and arches faced in brick; the crimson and cream colours possibly being the same as the livery of the railway company. This has produced a polychromatic delight that has the aesthetics of railway station interior, an impression that is reinforced by the appearance of the pews that replicate platform benches. Fine stained glass and a polished granite pulpit and cylindrical font add to the quality of the interior. The ceiling is the open scissor beam timber roof that comprises a multitude of cranked rafters that creates an intense pattern. The church has a western apse that houses the baptistery. This sits over the sacristy that is built into the slope and approached by a downward spiral staircase leading from the porch. The relationship of the circular sacristy, which has a meeting table wrapped around a central support column, with the remainder of the church must be extremely rare. A quirky cylindrical bell turret surmounted by conical slate roof completes the building.

Visiting and Facilities

The church is open for worship.
Work in progress - can you help?
 

Church Website

Church Website:
http://www.hwparishes.org.uk

Sources and Further Information

Peter Moore (2016) Exterior image of 607030 Tebay St James [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Exterior image of 607030 Tebay St James
CWGC (2016) Commonwealth War Graves Commission CWGC Unique File Reference Number: 1976 [Bibliography/Data]
Number of War Graves: 2
() Interior [Digital Archive/Graphic material]
Interior
Church of England (2021) A Church Near You https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/12223/ [Digital Archive/Index]
View information on worship and access at this church
Church Buildings Council (2019) Church Bells 1 Bell [Archive/Index]
1 Bell