- St James' Church, Altham
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St James' Church, Altham
St James' Church, Altham, from the southwestLocation in Lancashire Coordinates: 53°47′37″N 2°20′53″W / 53.7936°N 2.3480°W OS grid reference SD 772 331 Location Altham, Lancashire Country England Denomination Anglican Website St James, Altham Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 17 December 1968 Architect(s) Thomas Hacking (1859 additions and alterations)
Paley and Austin (chapel rebuilt)Architectural type Church Style Gothic, Gothic Revival Specifications Materials Sandstone, stone slate roofs Administration Parish Altham with Clayton le Moors Deanery Accrington Archdeaconry Blackburn Diocese Blackburn Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Revd John Tranter Laity Churchwarden(s) Clifford Hallworth
Robert BarnesSt James' Church, Altham, is located in the village of Altham, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Accrington, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice has been united with that of All Saints, Clayton-le-Moors.[1] The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[2]
Contents
History
The church was founded in 1140, and was dedicated to Saint Mary.[3] The earliest fabric in the present church dates from the 15th and 16th centuries. The tower was built in 1859, when the chancel was rebuilt; these and other alterations were made by Thomas Hacking.[4] In 1881 a chapel was rebuilt by the Lancaster architects Paley and Austin.[5]
Architecture
Exterior
St James' Church is constructed in sandstone rubble, and has a stone slate roof. Its plan consists of a three-bay nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, a two-bay chancel, and a west tower. The tower is short and is in three stages; its architectural style is Perpendicular. It has an arched west doorway with a two-light window above it, two-light bell openings, and a battlemented parapet. All the windows on the sides of the church are round-headed with three lights. The south porch is gabled, and incorporates part of a Norman font in one of its side benches.[2]
Interior
Inside the church is a shallow west gallery.[4] The arcades are carried on octagonal piers and have round arches. In the north wall of the chancel is a late-medieval piscina. In its south wall is the re-sited tympanum of a Norman door. The octagonal font was given to the church by the abbot of Whalley Abbey, and contains panels carved with the Instruments of the Passion. The church contains four 19th-century hatchments, and memorial wall tablets dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.[2] It also box pews dating from 1859. There is a stained glass window in the southeast aisle dating from the middle of the 19th century by Hardman & Co. In the northeast aisle is a window by Shrigley and Hunt dating from the early 20th century.[4] The two-manual organ was built in about 1859 by John Laycock. It has been awarded a Historic Organ Certificate.[6]
See also
- List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin
References
- ^ St James, Altham, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/altham-st-james/, retrieved 12 September 2011
- ^ a b c Church of St James, Altham (1072721). National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
- ^ St James, Altham, GENUKI, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Altham/StJames.shtml, retrieved 12 September 2011
- ^ a b c Hartwell, Clare; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2009) [1969], Lancashire: North, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 85–86, ISBN 978-0-300-12667-9
- ^ Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, p. 78, ISBN 1-86220-054-8
- ^ Lancashire, Altham, St. James (N03392), British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N03392, retrieved 12 September 2011
Categories:- Diocese of Blackburn
- Church of England churches in Lancashire
- Grade II* listed buildings in Lancashire
- Grade II* listed churches
- Paley and Austin buildings
- English Gothic architecture
- Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire
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