Architectural Features
Ham stone dressings, slate roofs. (The medieval tower was reportedly of limestone.) PLAN: West tower, five-bay nave without clerestorey, north and south aisles.
1440-90.
A small Tudor door survives at the east end of the south aisle.
The north and east windows of the aisle suggest a mid-C15 construction date.
INTERIOR: An impressively spacious interior, entered through the tower which has a good C15 fan vault.
The eastern arches are much broader, that on the north an original C15 feature no doubt to access a large north aisle chapel, that on the south altered to correspond in the C19.
The octagonal stone font is `one of the most adorned of C15 fonts in the county' (Pevsner)
The elaborate stone font is largely 15th century, with some 19th century restoration.
The bowl is straight, with on each face three standing figures under cusped arches.
Stained glass: exceptionally good east window in the style of Clayton & Bell, c.
In the south chapel, some C18 armorial glass, reset here 1951.
The south aisle has glass c.
It was enlarged in the C15, and again in the C19, when it was virtually rebuilt.
It gained parish status in 1539.
A medieval rood screen removed in 1812 is now in the County Museum, Taunton.
01227 Pevsner, N, Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: St James Church, St James Street, Taunton, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * The surviving C15 fabric forms an important element in the development of the Somerset Perpendicular style.
The successive restorations and enlargements, although sufficient to prevent it gaining the highest designation grade, are in themselves indicators of changing liturgical needs * The handsome tower forms, with St Mary Magdalene tower, a fine dual landmark for the town, and shows Victorian concerns to replicate medieval fabric * The excellent quality of the fittings, most notably the pulpit, font, south chapel screen, and the fine east window