The Church of St James the Less is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church in Hambridge,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. It was designed by

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey List of Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (1 April 1810 – 22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic Re ...

and built in 1842–44. The church has been a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

since 1988. Adjacent the church is a former national school, which was built in 1844 and is also Grade II listed.

History

The Church of St James the Less was built as the district church for Hambridge and Westport. Prior to its construction, inhabitants were between two and three and a half miles from the parish church of

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

Curry Rivel Curry Rivel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, around west of Somerton, Somerset, Somerton and east of Taunton in the South Somerset district. The parish had a population of 2,347 at the 2021 census, and includes the hamlets ...

. The plans for the church were drawn up by

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and Mr. Maurice Davis of

Langport Langport is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, west of Somerton, Somerset, Somerton. The parish, which covers only part of the town, has a population of 3,578. Langport is contiguous with Huish Episcopi, ...

was hired as the builder. A plot of land was purchased for £140 and the church built for an approximate cost of £800. A grant of £120 was received from the Bath and Wells Diocesan Church Building Association. The foundation stone was laid on 20 June 1842, and the church and its cemetery were consecrated by the

Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...

, the Right Rev. Edward Denison, on 2 February 1844. The church underwent a £1,500 restoration scheme in 1957–58, after a survey of the building identified essential repairs to be made. A bazaar held in October 1958 was successful in clearing the remaining £144 debt.

Architecture

St James is built of White lias, with Ham stone dressings and slate roofs, in the

Decorated style English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

. It is made up of a five-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, west tower, north organ chamber, south vestry and south porch. The two-stage tower has battlements, pinnacles, gargoyles and a diagonal buttress on the west side. It contains a single bell. The church was designed to hold 246 sittings, 150 of which were free and unappropriated. A stained glass window was added to the church in 1866 in memory of the fur dyer and engineer

John Appold John George Appold, FRS (14 April 1800, in Shoreditch, London – 31 August 1865, in Gloucestershire) was a British fur dyer and engineer. Biography Appold was the son of a fur-skin dyer, established in Finsbury. Succeeding to his father's busin ...

. It was made by O'Connor and paid for by Rev. C. S. Grueber and friends.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Church of St James the Less, Hambridge Churches in Somerset Grade II listed churches in Somerset Church of England church buildings in Somerset