West Tilbury: St James
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 661 777
Enough fragments of stonework remain to establish a late eleventh-century origin for the present building, but the chancel was lengthened in the fourteenth century and the nave was widened northwards, probably at this time. In 1879 the church was thoroughly restored, the nave has lengthened westwards and the north porch and vestry were added.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower, nave without aisles but with a porch and vestry placed unusually under a pent roof at the north-east corner; chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
Enough fragments of stonework remain to establish a late eleventh-century origin for the present building, but the chancel was lengthened in the fourteenth century and the nave was widened northwards, probably at this time. In 1879 the church was thoroughly restored, the nave has lengthened westwards and the north porch and vestry were added. The tower was built in 1883 at a cost of £1,000. The architect has not yet been discovered.
Exterior Description
The outline of the body of the church seems to remain much as it was before, but the west end his been lengthened and altered by the addition of the tower. The present tower is the most recent part of the building, dating from 1883, and evidently was intended to re-establish the prominence of the church in the landscape. This it does, but at the expense of being rather showy in contrast with the plain appearance of the rest of the building. There are three stages, the lowest with a three-light west window and a narrow lancet in the north wall and the middle with such lancets in every face. On the north side here there is a clock face. The uppermost stage is set back and the angle buttresses terminate below this, the top stage having octagonal turrets at the angles. The parapet has double stepped merlons and some simple flushwork decoration. The bell-openings are paired ogee-headed lights with glass louvres and each has a pointed quatrefoil for tracery. Access from the ground to the middle stage is by a semi-octagonal turret in the angle with the nave containing a spiral stair.
The nave has a lancet window near the west end of the south wall which has been externally renewed, like all the windows in the building, and then two two-light windows with Decorated tracery which may or may not represent what was there before. The north wall has two similar windows but these are not placed opposite those in the south wall. The aisle-like projection towards the west end has a doorway in the eastern part and a four-light window in Perpendicular style under a rectangular hood in the east wall; the western part forms a vestry, again with a square- headed window (of three lights this time) and the re-used remains of a small square opening in the wall above. The roof of the vestry continues the line of the nave roof. It is protected by a parapet and there are diagonal buttresses at the angles. The east gable above the chancel arch being narrower at the top than at the foot, there is an unusual half-hipped arrangement to throw off the water. In the south wall of the nave is some crude herringbone masonry and three stones of round-headed window which are the oldest parts of the building to survive.
The chancel is of two bays with a buttress at the mid-point in both north and south walls. Built into the west face of the buttress on the north is a stoup with a two-centred head and the bowl missing. The western bay of the chancel has a cusped lancet in both north and south walls and the eastern bay has a two-light window in the south wall with tracery similar in design to that in the nave windows. On the north is oddly patchy masonry, including part of a Norman window, and inside the church may be seen a blind arch at this point. The east window had been replaced in the eighteenth-century with intersecting glazing bars, but the restorer in 1879 put back Decorated tracery; in the surrounding masonry is some of the small amount of mediaeval work to survive on the exteriorof the windows. The angles have diagonal buttresses.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1891
The east window shows Christ the Good Shepherd with seven smaller scenes from Psalm 23 and the Agnus Dei in the tracery light; by Clayton and Bell.
Stained Glass
1935
Chancel south I: The Angel with the Maries at the Sepulchre, by C.E. Moore.
Stained Glass
c.1920
Chancel south II: Christ with the Children
Stained Glass
c.1920
Chancel north I: Christ the Saviour, in memory of the Revd. J.B. Dobree who restored the church.
Stained Glass
1919
South nave I: Two Acts of Mercy, 1919 by Curtis, Ward and Hughes in memory of the Revd. J.B. Dobree, d.1918.
Stained Glass
1893
South nave II: St. James, by Ward and Hughes, a small lancet.
Stained Glass
1925
West window: Christ with the Children by Powell of Whitefriars.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior was also swept clean in the 1879 restoration. The walls were replastered, the roofs all renewed and much of the stonework replaced. The tower arch is all new, and an old picture of the interior shows that the Georgian chancel arch was much wider so that the present arch with its mouldings carried on attached shafts in the accepted fashion must also be entirely of 1879. The floor was repaved with composition in the nave and in the chancel with black and red tiles. At the north-west corner on arch opens into the vestry and the organ and font stand rather awkwardly close by. Most of the surrounds of the windows have been renewed and uniformity has been achieved by coats of whitewash. There is one step at the chancel arch and another at the communion rails, but both of these are nineteenth-century since the two old features which remain - a plain recess under a two-centred chamfered arch in the south well and a piscina with a trefoiled ogee head towards the eastern corner of the same wall indicate an original floor level of at least two feet lower.
Fixtures and fittings
Clock
19th Century Clock with cast iron plate and spacer frame located in Former Nave made by JohnMoore from Clerkenwell, London in 1883
Historical Notes
1883 - 1883
Period Qualifier: 2
Altar
c.18th Century
The altar is a communion table of oak, grained, with baluster legs and no stretchers.
Pulpit
c.1880
The pulpit is of oak with traceried panels
Font (object)
c.1880
The font is octagonal with symbols in recessed quatrefoils round the bowl and (oddly) three colonettes against the round stem.
Organ (object)
The organ is a small two-manual instrument with tracker action rebuilt in 1903; it has spotted metal front pipes and a pine case.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 661 777
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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