St James

C15, restored 1890 by Waller and in 1904 by William Weir.

Coln St Dennis church is dedicated to St James the Great. The church dates from the 12th and C15th century, it was restored 1890 by Waller and in 1904 by William Weir. The church is Grade I listed, see:https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1340914 Here it is viewed from the south.

© Philip Halling

C12 nave with clasping buttresses at the west end.

Nave north wall: Perpendicular 2-light hollow-chamfered stone-mullioned window with trefoil-headed lights and hood with carved head stops to left of porch.

C19 plank door within porch with C12 surround of two orders with thin engaged jamb shafts with simple scalloped capitals and a billeted hood mould.

Nave south wall: C14 two-light window with quatrefoil to right of C19 vestry which obscures the C12 south door with plain tympanum and billeted hood.

Small round-headed C12 window with recessed surround to the right of the latter.

C15 parapet to nave.

Central C12 three-stage tower with C15 upper stage and projecting stairs at the south-west corner and pilaster buttresses (strengthened on the east with massive C15 buttresses with offsets).

Tall trefoil-headed lancets to the ground floor on the south side, to the right of a blocked C12 priests' door with dressed stone lintel and a plain tympanum and moulded hood.

Battlemented C15 upper stage with 2-light trefoil-headed belfry windows with stone slate louvres.

C12 chancel with clasping buttresses

north and south walls partially rebuilt reusing the C12 stonework

Pointed C14 2-light south window with tracery and stepped hood.

Late Perpendicular north porch with tall pointed hollowed-chamfered entrance with early plank door dated 1637, with fillets and strap hinges.

Restored Perpendicular roof to nave with braced chamfered tie beams with fine reset C12 grotesque head corbels.

Flattened C12 west tower arch of two orders with engaged jamb shafts with simple scalloped capitals.

The east arch is rebuilt with a Perpendicular pointed arch on C12 piers matching those of the west tower arch.

The chancel has in each of its four corners an engaged C12 shaft with a scalloped capital indicating the former presence of a vaulted ceiling.

C12 hood moulds over the north and south doorways in the nave formerly continued around nave.

Coloured tile flooring to nave and chancel.

Fixtures and fittings: C12 tub-shaped font, chamfered at a later date into eight roughly shaped scallops to fit an octagonal pedestal.

C19 wooden pews, pulpit, lectern, communion rail and altar table.

Monuments on nave north wall: oval marble tablet with heraldry to Benjamin Kemp Bart, died 1777

grey marble monument to John Kirril, died 1762.

Monuments on south wall: limestone monument on south wall of nave to John Bridges, died 1679, and other members of that family with bolection-moulded surround and cherub's head within a segmental hood flanked by finials.

North wall of chancel: limestone monument to Joahne Burton daughter of Richard Burton, died 1631 with moulded triangular pediment

limestone monument to John House, died 1760, Mary House, died 1743 and other members of that family with foliate marginal panels.