St James' Parish Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church serving the parish of Wetherby with Linton in

Wetherby Wetherby ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is close to West Yorkshire county's border with North Yorkshire and lies approximately from Leeds city centre, from ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England.

History

Wetherby was a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

in the ancient parish of Spofforth until its parish church was built in 1842. Before then the

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

was served by clergy from the

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral church, or ...

in Spofforth. A chapel was mentioned in 1301 and again in 1546. A dilapidated thatched chapel in the Market Square was demolished in 1760. It was replaced by another in 1763 and that too was demolished in 1845. Curate, William Raby of Spofforth came to Wetherby in 1833 and embarked on two building schemes, St James' Church and Wetherby Town Hall. On 3 April 1838, a meeting of civic and ecclesiastical figures agreed to build a church with a graveyard. The backers included two brewers, two surgeons, two solicitors, two innkeepers, the curate, a wine and spirit merchant, a farmer, a craftsman, a non-provincial dealer, a postmaster, and a 'gentleman who between them owned 21% of the land in Wetherby and leased another 25%'. Each subscribed at least £20. The site for the church occupied three roods of barley field provided by Edwin Greenwood of

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

, the principal non-resident purchaser at the great sale of Wetherby in 1824. An access road was provided from the market place and Great North Road on land provided by John F. Barlow of Aldfield House. The first stones were laid on 1 April 1839 by Quentin Rhodes, who contributed significantly towards the initial cost of £4000. The church was built from stone quarried at Collingham. The church was consecrated by Longley,

Bishop of Ripon The Bishop of Ripon is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. The bishop is one of the area bishops of the Diocese of Leeds in the Province of York. The area bishop of Ripon has oversight o ...

on 1 February 1842 and cost of £4,300. The 1877 the church was refurbished at a cost of £1000 raised by local subscriptions. Not long after completion, 60 residents petitioned the Bishop of Ripon complaining about the curate, Raby, and his allocation of pews and other abuses by his 'masterful hand'.

Church on the Corner

Limited burial space in the churchyard resulted in the provision of a large cemetery on the corner of Hallfield Lane. It has two similar chapels; the east chapel is used for St James' Church on the Corner while the other is the cemetery chapel. The cemetery is managed by Wetherby Town Council.

Architecture

The church is aligned east-to-west and has a west tower. The tower is tall and in two stages with blue clocks in west, north and south faced in deeply-chamfered recesses with hood moulds. There are three light louvred belfry openings with hood moulds. The nave and tower are constructed of sandstone and were completed in 1842 in the

Gothic revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

. The

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 ...

was added in 1877, and a porch was built in the 1990s. The north side has access to the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

. The south side has the old and new entrances and a

rose window Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in Gothic cathedrals and churches. The windows are divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery. The term ''rose window'' wa ...

. The chancel has a lean-to south vestry with exterior shouldered-headed door and a two light window with hood moulds. The east window is of five lights and of ornate stained glass, each light divided by shafts while the bays have stepped three-light windows with round-arched hood moulds.

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 main ...

s on the tower were removed in 1939 after they became unsafe. They were replaced by capstones. A porch was added in the 1990s, and a ramp providing wheelchair access. A former Sunday School building on Church Street that opened in 1895 is rented to local organisations. This is stone built with a pitched welsh-slate roof.

Interior

The church has a treble-chamfered tower arch with stops to cover the nave windows. There is a tall moulded chancel arch. The chancel has a painted panel ceiling with crossing wooden beams running in a north-south direction. There are hanging pendant lamps in the nave. The church contains furniture by Robert Thompson.

References

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External links

St James' Church Wetherby website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wetherby, St James Churches in Leeds Anglican Diocese of Leeds

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater *James, son of Alphaeu ...