St James, Leckhampstead
St James, Leckhampstead
St James’s is a Grade II* parish church on Shop Lane, Leckhampstead, West Berkshire, in the Diocese of Oxford, a High Victorian village church by S. S. Teulon.
- Location
- Leckhampstead, Berkshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Berkshire
- City / town
- Leckhampstead
- Address
- Shop Lane, Leckhampstead, Berkshire, RG20 8QQ
- Postcode
- RG20 8QQ
- Built
- c.1858–60
- Consecrated
- 30 October 1860
- Architect
- S S Teulon
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- James
- Diocese
- Oxford
- Parish
- Leckhampstead
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- High Victorian Gothic
- Materials
- Knapped flint with brick dressings and bands; Bath stone cills and tracery; tiled roofs
- Grid reference
- SU 439 759
- Opening hours
- The church is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to provide a place of worship, peace and shelter whenever it is needed.
- Access
- Ramp or level access available on request. Level access to the main areas
- Website
- https://stjamespcc.com/
Overview
Historic England records a church of about 1858–60 by S. S. Teulon: knapped flint with brick dressings and bands, Bath stone cills, tracery and some stone quoins, and tiled roofs. The plan is nave, south aisle, south porch, chancel, a rudimentary tower and transepts at the crossing, and a north vestry. Inside, polychromatic brickwork has banding and diapering. The nave is three and a half bays with an arch-braced roof and a four-bay south arcade on square piers. Fittings include a three-light east window of the Ascension by Lavers and Barraud, a reset seventeenth-century timber pulpit, and a reset eleventh-century cup-shaped stone font with vine carving.
Village and Church Heritage Record accounts state that the church replaced a medieval chapel at Chapel Farm, Hill Green, pulled down in 1859. The Revd John Robinson, vicar of Chieveley, largely met the cost of £1,745. The foundation stone was laid on 3 May 1859; the original builder, Taylor of Sunbury, went bankrupt and was succeeded by Child, Son & Martin of London. The church was consecrated on 30 October 1860. A later roof repair removed it from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.