---
title: "St James, Taxal"
description: "Located in Taxal, Derbyshire. Built C16–C17 tower; nave rebuilt 1825; restored and extended 1889; vestry 1922. Diocese of Chester. Grade II*. Gothic Survival tower; early C19 Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Derbyshire","Taxal","Whaley Bridge","Grade II*","Gothic Survival"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/taxal-st-james"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:52:38.155Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:58:41.507Z"
location: "Taxal, Derbyshire"
country: "England"
county: "Derbyshire"
town: "Taxal"
address: "Taxal, Derbyshire, SK23 7DY"
postcode: "SK23 7DY"
built: "C16–C17 tower; nave rebuilt 1825; restored and extended 1889; vestry 1922"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["James"]
diocese: "Chester"
grade: "II*"
style: "Gothic Survival tower; early C19 Gothic"
materials: "Coursed rubble gritstone to tower and part of nave; remainder coursed squared gritstone; slate roofs"
website: "https://www.whaleybridgecofeparish.org/"
openingHours: "The church is open to the public, during daylight hours, four days a week; Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays."
parish: "Whaley Bridge Taxal St James"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1088087"
gridReference: "SK 006 798"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas"
---

# St James, Taxal

St James is a Grade II* parish church on Whiteleas Road, Taxal, in the civil parish of Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire. It belongs to the Diocese of Chester and the parish of Whaley Bridge, Taxal St James.

## Overview

Historic England records a parish church with a sixteenth- to seventeenth-century tower, the body rebuilt in 1825, restored and extended in 1889, and altered again in 1922. Architects of those works are not known. The tower and part of the nave are coursed rubble gritstone with larger quoins; the remainder is coursed, squared gritstone under slate roofs, with crested ridge tiles to the chancel and organ chamber. The plan is a nave with west tower, south porch, and a lower, narrower chancel with north-east vestry and south-east organ chamber.

The three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses, a pointed west doorway and a triangle-headed Perpendicular west window, Y-traceried belfry openings, and an embattled parapet with pinnacles. The five-bay nave has gabled buttresses and two-light Y-tracery windows of 1825. Inside, a six-bay hammerbeam roof sits on corbelled shafts. Fixtures include late-seventeenth-century communion rails, a panelled dado of 1694 moved into the chancel, a Queen Anne royal arms, an alabaster pulpit of 1904, and an 1889 east window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Of the medieval church only fragments in the tower survive; Saxon origins have been suggested for some tower masonry.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1088087](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1088087)
- [Whaley Bridge Church of England Parish](https://www.whaleybridgecofeparish.org/)