---
title: "St James the Great, Colwall"
description: "Located in Colwall, Herefordshire. Built C12; additions by H Woodyer 1865; north arcade 1880. Diocese of Hereford. Grade II*. Norman and Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Herefordshire","Colwall","Grade II*","Norman","Gothic","H Woodyer"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-james-great-colwall"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:31:04.073Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T15:59:26.995Z"
location: "Colwall, Herefordshire"
country: "England"
county: "Herefordshire"
town: "Colwall"
address: "Mill Lane, Colwall, Herefordshire, WR13 6HJ"
postcode: "WR13 6HJ"
built: "C12; additions by H Woodyer 1865; north arcade 1880"
architect: "H Woodyer (chancel and vestry 1865)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["James the Great"]
diocese: "Hereford"
grade: "II*"
style: "Norman and Gothic"
materials: "Grey, brown and red sandstone; tiled roofs"
website: "http://www.colwallchurch.org/"
openingHours: "Open all day every day from 8am to 730pm, or dusk if earlier."
parish: "Colwall with Upper Colwall"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1178404"
gridReference: "SO 739 423"
accessNotes: "Ramp or level access available on request"
---

# St James the Great, Colwall

St James the Great is a Grade II* parish church on Mill Lane in Colwall, Herefordshire, in the Diocese of Hereford.

## Overview

Historic England records a church of the twelfth century with additions by H. Woodyer in 1865, in grey, brown and red sandstone with tiled roofs. The plan has a five-bay nave with south aisle, a chancel and vestry by Woodyer, and a fourteenth- to fifteenth-century south-west tower in three stages with diagonal buttresses. The east wall of the tower has scars of three lancets, reputed once to have held a statue of a Pietà. A timber-framed south porch, probably seventeenth-century, has an ogee-headed wicket-gate. The south aisle has restored thirteenth-century Y-tracery and lancets.

The interior has a five-bay nave with cylindrical columns to the thirteenth-century south arcade; the three western capitals are in grey stone with heads amid stiff-leaf. The north arcade is dated 1880. The double-collar nave roof, possibly sixteenth-century, is supported by arch-braces with two rows of wind-braces. The churchyard cross is separately listed at Grade II*. The church is open daily from 8am until 7.30pm, or dusk if earlier.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1178404](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1178404)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St James, Colwall](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101178404-church-of-st-james-colwall)
- [Colwall Church](http://www.colwallchurch.org/)