St James, Southam

St James’s is a Grade I parish church in the centre of Southam, Warwickshire, a fourteenth-century town church with a west tower and octagonal broach spire in the Diocese of Coventry.

Overview

Historic England records a church of the fourteenth century with fifteenth-, early sixteenth- and nineteenth-century alterations. The chancel, nave and tower are squared coursed lias with sandstone dressings; the clerestory and spire are sandstone ashlar. The chancel roof and porches have fish-scale tiles; the nave roof is lead. The plan is a chancel with north aisle, nave with north and south aisles, and a three-stage west tower. The chancel is of fourteenth-century origin, rebuilt in the fifteenth century; the nave aisles were widened in the fifteenth century and an early sixteenth-century clerestory of eight windows was added. The fifteenth-century octagonal broach spire has pinnacles on the broaches and two tiers of lucarnes.

Inside, the listing notes a fourteenth-century rood-loft doorway, a fifteenth-century chancel arch, a four-bay nave arcade, an early sixteenth-century nave roof with carved bosses, fragments of medieval wall painting, a seventeenth-century polygonal pulpit, and a chest dated 1620. Visit Southam records a papal dispensation of 16 July 1359 as the first documented dedication, and the removal of pews with a new York stone floor in 2004.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1185823
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St James, Southam
• St James, Southam