"The church of ST. JAMES consists of a chancel 21 ft. by 12 ft., north vestry, nave 50½ ft. by 16½ ft., south aisle 11½ ft. wide, south porch and western tower 7 ft. wide by 9¾ ft. deep. These measurements are all internal.
The church has been a great deal repaired during the past century, and the south aisle, porch and vestry were added in 1875. The oldest portion of the existing church is the 12th-century nave, which appears to have been lengthened in the 13th century. The chancel appears to have been rebuilt in the 14th century, and the tower may have been added late in the same century.
The east window has two lights with modern tracery and mullions. The east wall sets back 6 in. about 5 ft. above the ground outside. In the north wall is a square-headed late 14th-century window of two lights, now opening into the vestry. In the south wall is a similar window of two lights; the jambs, which are of white stone, and the sill and lintel, which are of red sandstone, appear to be old work recut. The chancel arch is pointed and of modern date. The nave is lighted in its north wall by three windows; the first, the stonework of which is modern, is of two lights with a quatrefoil over. The second is apparently of the 12th century, and is the only window of that date left; it is very small and has a round head. The third window is a lancet with a pointed head, and is evidently of 13th-century date. Between the two last is a round-headed doorway covered by two wood doors bolted together. A modern arcade of four bays divides the nave from the aisle, which is lit by three windows in the south wall and one at each end. The round-headed south doorway is of 12th-century design, and the capitals and a few stones of the outer order are old, and evidently belonged to a doorway formerly in the south wall of the nave. The south porch is of timber on stone foundation walls.
A modern doorway in the west wall of the nave admits to the tower, which is unbroken horizontally from ground to parapet. The latter is pierced by quatrefoils and has square pinnacles at the angles, gabled and crocketed. The west window in the ground floor is of two lights with rough heads, apparently recut, and a modern mullion. The chamber above has two unglazed rectangular lights in the west wall and one in the north, all with original red sandstone jambs. The bell-chamber is lighted by windows of two lights under pointed heads.
The roofs are all modern and gabled; that over the chancel is panelled, and the nave and aisle have low pointed barrel ceilings. All the furniture is modern except the 13th-century font, which is octagonal and of irregular form.
In the chancel is a slab to Randall Stevens of Woodhall, who died in 1653, and others to later members of the same family. There are also many wall monuments of the 18th century and later. On the east wall outside is a memorial to William March, who was buried in 1661, and his son William, 1673.
There are three bells: the first by Abel Rudhall, 1716; the second inscribed 'Sancta Anna ora pro nobis' and bearing a stamp of four fleurs de lis set saltirewise in a square; the third is dated 1682 and has a stamp with the maker's initials I. M. for John Martin.
The communion plate consists of a silver cup with a baluster stem, and a cover paten, dated 1677, and stamped with the hall mark of 1675, a paten of 1677, the gift of Bishop Fleetwood, a set of a cup, paten, almsdish and flagon given in 1876, and a pewter flagon of older date.
The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1540 to 1710, burials 1538 to 1710 (with a gap between 1638 and 1652) and marriages 1572 to 1709 with gaps between 1640 and 1653 and 1658 to 1661; (ii) baptisms 1711 to 1812, burials 1711 to 1812 and marriages 1711 to 1754; (iii) a marriage book 1754 to 1812. There are also preserved several old deeds, and the will of Mrs. Stephens, 1668, bequeathing various gifts to the parish."
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