St James, Little Paxton
St James, Little Paxton
St James is a Grade II* parish church on the High Street, Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire, in the Diocese of Ely and the Paxtons Benefice.
- Location
- Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Cambridgeshire
- City / town
- Little Paxton
- Address
- High Street, Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire, PE19 6EY
- Postcode
- PE19 6EY
- Built
- Late C12; west tower c.1400; south aisle c.1500; restored 1849
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- James
- Diocese
- Ely
- Parish
- Little Paxton
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Norman and Gothic
- Materials
- Pebble rubble, ironstone and limestone dressings; tiled and slated roofs
- Grid reference
- TL 189 627
- Opening hours
- Often open every day. Or ring 01480 211048 or caretaker on 07584 295429.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England records a late twelfth-century parish church of which the chancel remains almost intact, with evidence of early window openings and two almost complete doorways, one reset in the early sixteenth-century south aisle wall. The north wall of the nave is said to have been demolished in the mid seventeenth century and was rebuilt in 1849 when the church was completely restored; twelfth-century carved stones are built into its lower courses. The west tower is about 1400; the south arcade and aisle are about 1500, rebuilt in the nineteenth century. Walls are pebble rubble, ironstone and limestone dressings, under tiled and slated roofs.
The south elevation of the three-stage west tower has a chamfered plinth and an embattled parapet with grotesque gargoyles. The reset twelfth-century south door has a carved tympanum of the Good Shepherd, a large cross in a circle, and a wolf and a lamb. The National Churches Trust notes a 2012 reordering for community use as well as worship.