Architectural Features
MATERIALS: Local red sandstone rubble with freestone dressings, tile roof.
Set into the wall on the north side is a fragment of masonry with crockets, probably Anglo-Saxon.
North and south sides have clock faces installed as a 1914-18 war memorial.
The freestone upper stage, with diagonal buttresses, is C15.
The nave south doorway is late C12.
Either side of it are re-set grotesque heads from a C12 corbel table.
The floors are C19 tiles, with raised wood floors below pews.
In the sanctuary are encaustic tiles and re-set grave slabs, one dated 1776.
In the chancel the communion rail is brass on iron standards.
The font, given by Thomas Bisse and dated 1722, has a rustic Baroque stem with square-bowl, and Gothic concave cover.
The font in the west end of the nave was given by Thomas Bisse in 1722 (note the inscription of his name in this picture).
The C19 polygonal pulpit has Gothic panels and foliage cornice, on a panelled stone base.
Nave benches are plain, of 1869, but the choir stalls have ends with poppy heads, some of which are C16.
There are few memorials, the noteworthy examples being a neo-classical tablet to Richard Chambers , and a wall monument to Daniel Price (date illegible) that shows a mourner (damaged) leaning on a stele.
The timber-framed lych gate is late medieval (LBS no 151082).
HISTORY: The church is of C12 origin and the tower of c1200 shows it to have been a substantial church by that time.
Information from Alan Brooks REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St James the Great, Cradley, is listed Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * It has an impressive tower of c1200, retaining original detail, heightened in the C15. * The main body of the church is a good example of C19 Gothic-Revival architecture, undertaken by one of its leading practitioners, Sir George Gilbert Scott. * It has fixtures of special interest, including an unusual C18 font, C16 choir benches, and well-designed C19 east window. * It has group value with the churchyard cross, lych gate and surrounding historic buildings at the heart of the village.
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register.