St James's Church is the main
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 Brit ...
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
for the town of
Trowbridge
Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...
, Wiltshire, England.
The 15th-century Grade I listed building is the town's most prominent landmark.
Those buried in the church include the poet
George Crabbe
George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
In the 177 ...
, rector from 1814 to 1832, and in the churchyard the executed alleged-Luddite and Trade Union martyr
Thomas Helliker.
History
The first Saxon church in the town was most likely a wooden one on higher ground overlooking the
River Biss
The River Biss is a small river in Wiltshire, England and is a tributary of the Bristol Avon. The name is of uncertain origin; it is claimed that the word is from the Old Norse ''bisa'', meaning "to strive".
Progress
The river rises near Upton ...
, and was replaced by the first stone church. This church, of finely cut stone, was probably built in the mid 10th century.
When the
12th century castle was built, the church was contained within it and several
Norman tombstone from the graveyard have been found. Some are in
Trowbridge Museum while one is in the
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
of the present church.
The parish church of
St James was built outside the castle, around 1200, to serve to serve the growing town. The earlier church was demolished and the site levelled. Alterations and additions were made in the 14th century and these comprise most of the earliest work visible today. A spire was also added to the tower and
John of Gaunt
John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399) was an English royal prince, military leader, and statesman. He was the fourth son (third to survive infancy as William of Hatfield died shortly after birth) of King Edward ...
, the
lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
, may have rebuilt the
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.
...
. Around 1450, the nave and chapels were demolished and the church rebuilt on grander lines in the contemporary
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It c ...
style. This probably took 30 years and made the church much as we see it today. Only the tower, spire and chancel of the old church remained.
In the time of
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
, the chancel was given an elaborate
ribbed plaster ceiling and in 1540,
John Leland described the church as 'lightsome and fair'. The 17th and 18th centuries saw much
non-conformist activity in the town and the parish church suffered periods of neglect with many of the wealthier townspeople being
Dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, ...
s. This led to the building being in very bad condition by the mid 19th century with the spire out of the perpendicular and held together by iron bands, pieces of
masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
falling off, and dangerous columns and arches.
The subsequent restoration was due to the energies of the Rev. J. D. Hastings and was completed in 1848. He also tidied up the churchyard and gave some of the land for the widening of Church Street. The graveyard was closed in 1856. In the church itself there are only 18 monuments that pre-date the restoration. Between 1926 and 1930 battlements, pinnacles and the top of the spire were repaired, while in 1953, the Duke chapel was restored to its original purpose as a
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, ...
.
The church was designated as
Grade I listed
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 I ...
in 1950.
It suffered near disaster on two occasions in the late 20th century. In May 1986, the roof of the nave caught fire and there was substantial water and smoke damage; restoration costs were £200,000. On 25 January 1990, just after midday the town was hit by the
Burns' Day Storm
The Burns' Day Storm (also known as Cyclone Daria) was an extremely violent windstorm that took place on 25–26 January 1990 over North-Western Europe. It is one of the strongest European windstorms on record. This storm has received differen ...
that blew off the top 20 feet of the spire, which fell through the previously undamaged part of the nave and ceiling. No-one was injured and the church was restored at a cost of £400,000.
The rectory was a 16th-century house with later additions, built in stone with two floors and an attic.
It was demolished in 1962.
Architecture
The entire building is in the Gothic style, predominately in the Perpendicular style, featuring large windows,
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
s and
Battlement
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...
s as well as a tall but slender
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...
; the second highest in Wiltshire, after
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury.
The buil ...
. The spire reaches a height of 160 feet (49 metres).
The church was extensively restored in the 19th century, but it retains some medieval architecture. This restoration involved rebuilding or renewing the chancel, south chapel, both
arcades,
clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
and spire in the style of the original.
The tall nave features a large and wide arcade, a small clerestory and a highly decorative panelled plaster ceiling, complete with winged
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...
s. The nave aisles extend westwards to enclose all but the west wall of the tower. The tower features a
fan vault
A fan vault is a form of vault used in the Gothic style, in which the ribs are all of the same curve and spaced equidistantly, in a manner resembling a fan. The initiation and propagation of this design element is strongly associated with En ...
below the ringing room, as does the north porch.
Bells
The tower originally held a
peal
In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality.
The definition of a peal has changed considerably ...
of eight bells, cast in 1800 by James Wells of
Aldbourne, Wiltshire. In 1912, Llewellins & James of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
recast the two lightest bells and tenor bell, as well as re-hanging the peal. They returned in 1923 to augment the bells to ten, as memorials to the fallen of the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
However, it became clear in the following ten years that rehanging and retuning was required again, but due to fundraising by the townspeople, the entire peal of bells was recast by
John Taylor & Co
John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...
of
Loughborough
Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...
in 1934. They were recast with additional metal to make Wiltshire's first and only peal of twelve bells, the tenor weighing 24 and a half
long hundredweight and striking the note D. Due to the small size of the tower, the bells were rehung in a new
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
frame in two tiers. Five of the bells are hung on the lower tier, and the remaining seven on the upper tier.
Notable rectors
The poet
George Crabbe
George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people.
In the 177 ...
was rector (under the patronage of the
Duke of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...
) from 1814 until his death in 1832.
References
External links
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Trowbridge
Trowbridge, Saint James
Trowbridge, Saint James
Trowbridge, Saint James