The Church of St James the Less is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church in Hambridge,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. It was designed by

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey FSA FRIBA (1 April 1810–22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic Revival. Family Benjamin Ferrey was the youngest son of Benjamin Ferrey Snr (1779–1847), a draper who became Mayor of Christc ...

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

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

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 ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

Curry Rivel Curry Rivel is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated west of Somerton and east of Taunton in the South Somerset district. The parish has a population of 2,148. The parish includes the hamlet of Burton Pynsent. History The ...

. The plans for the church were drawn up by

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and Mr. Maurice Davis of

Langport Langport is a small town and civil parish in Somerset, England, west of Somerton in the South Somerset district. The parish, which covers only part of the town, has a population of 1,081. Langport is contiguous with Huish Episcopi, a separate ...

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 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 see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...

, 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 The Lilstock Formation is a geologic formation in England. It preserves bivalve, insect and other invertebrate fossils, as well as fossil fish of '' Agkistracanthus mitgelensis'' and the basal theropod dinosaur '' Newtonsaurus cambrensis'' dati ...

, with

Ham stone Hamstone is the name given to a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material w ...

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 ar ...

. It is made up of a five- bay

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 and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

, 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 Finsssbury. Succeeding to his father's busi ...

. 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