---
title: "St James, Cooling"
description: "Located in Cooling, Kent. Built 13th–15th century; 19th-century restoration and vestry. Grade I. Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Churches Conservation Trust","Kent","Cooling","Grade I","Gothic","Dickens","Hoo Peninsula"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-james-cooling"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:31:26.004Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T17:49:25.265Z"
location: "Cooling, Kent"
country: "England"
county: "Kent"
town: "Cooling"
address: "Main Road, Cooling, Kent, ME3 8DG"
postcode: "ME3 8DG"
built: "13th–15th century; 19th-century restoration and vestry"
denomination: "Churches Conservation Trust"
dedications: ["James"]
grade: "I"
style: "Gothic"
materials: "Ragstone, flint, chalk and sandstone; plain tiled roofs"
openingHours: "Open daily: 10am to 4pm."
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1204117"
gridReference: "TQ 756 759"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St James, Cooling

St James is a Grade I former parish church on the Hoo Peninsula at Cooling, Kent, vested in the Churches Conservation Trust. The churchyard is associated with the opening of Charles Dickens’s *Great Expectations*.

## Overview

Historic England lists the church (1204117, 21 November 1966) as a thirteenth- to fifteenth-century parish church with some nineteenth-century restoration: west tower, nave with south porch, and chancel with south vestry, of ragstone, chalk and flint repaired in sandstone. The interior has a six-bay chancel with blank arcading on marble shafts, triple sedilia and a double piscina. The south vestry is lined with cockle shells, the emblem of St James. Fittings include a thirteenth-century font. The church was declared redundant on 19 November 1976 and vested in the Trust on 31 May 1978. Thirteen small coffin stones in the churchyard are widely identified with the “little stone lozenges” Dickens described as Pip’s family graves.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1204117](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1204117)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_James%27_Church,_Cooling)