St Philip & St James,

Leckhampton Leckhampton is a village and a district in south Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The area is in the civil parish of Leckhampton with Warden Hill and is part of the district of Cheltenham. The population of the civil parish taken at the Un ...

is a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in south

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, in the English county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. Part of the

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 ...

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...

, the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

has been a centre for worship for more than 150 years and has a present congregational roll of over 200.

History

On 1 May 1840 the church of St Philip was

consecrate Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

d as a daughter church of St Peter's and a

priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

was approved. In 1869, St Philip's was granted separate parish status, and the first

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

was appointed in May that year. Ten years later, the church was found to be too small for the expanding parish and the present

of St Philip & St James was built around the existing one by partly rebuilding and extending it. This work took three years. In May 1882 the present building was consecrated by the

Bishop of Gloucester The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester, England, Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Gloucestershire, County of Gloucestershire and part ...

, but the building had no

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. Spire ...

- the proposed one had been found to be beyond the bearing capacity of the foundations. In 1903 the saddleback

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

was built in place of the spire and dedicated. The church is in the Victorian Gothic style, with a fine carved stone reredos in the chancel and a mural of the supper at

Emmaus Emmaus ( ; ; ; ) is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus. Although its geograp ...

in the side chapel. Until their removal in 2020, the pews in the nave and aisles had carved end panels, some of which had been ingeniously incorporated into a new vestry at the back of the church. There is a movable nave altar on a dais, though the high altar is still in occasional use. The font was recently moved to the centre of the back of the church, having spent some years in the north-west corner. In 1963 a

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

was built in 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 ...

of St Philip & St James where ashes of the departed can rest, the first of its kind in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. By 1982 the parish of St Philip & St James had incorporated that of the former church of St James, Suffolk Square (at first used as a parish hall, but now a pizza restaurant). It now forms part of the South Cheltenham Team of churches whose Rector is also vicar of one of the churches in the team. In 2018, the church received permission to modernise its interior, removing the pews and converting the nave into a multi-use space while leaving the chancel and high altar in their historic configuration.Report in local business news
/ref> Construction work began in January 2020.

Church community

Worship at St Philip & St James is a mixture of formal and less formal styles. There is a pipe organ and a robed adult choir, occasionally supplemented by a music group with mostly acoustic instruments. The preaching mainly reflects a moderate liberal tradition. The current vicar is Revd Ruth Edmonds.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Philip and Saint James Church, Leckhampton Churches in Cheltenham Leckhampton Saint Philip Leckhampton Saint Philip Leckhampton Saint Philip Leckhampton