St James was built in 1839–41 and designed by theLancaster architectEdmund Sharpe.[3] The church cost about £1,300 (equivalent to £150,000 in 2023),[4] most of which was raised by public subscription, and the land was given by theDuke of Buccleuch. It wasconsecrated on 26 September 1841 byRt Revd John Bird Sumner,Bishop of Chester.[5] At that stage, the church had seating for 515 people.[6] The chapelry district of Saint James, Briercliffe was assigned in 1843.[7] In 1869 a new steeple was added to the church and other changes were made to the church byPaley and Austin, Sharpe's successors in hisLancaster practice.[8] In 1881 new pews were installed and the oldpulpit was removed.[5] In 1992 the choir vestry was enlarged and a meeting room was built.[9]
The church is constructed insandstone with a stoneslate roof, and is inEarly English style. Its plan consists of anave with a shortchancel and a tower at the west end. The roof is steeply pitched and divided into three, although internally the church consists of a single chamber with a flat ceiling. The nave is divided intobays bypilasterbuttresses, between which arelancet windows. The tower is partly embraced bygabled pseudo-aisles, and is in two stages. The lower stage contains a west door, above which are lancets and gables. From this rises an octagonal drum containing abelfry with lancets, and over this is a short octagonal spire. At the east end is a stepped triple lancet window.[2]
Inside the church are galleries on three sides supported bycast iron columns; the galleries containbox pews.[2] The two-manual organ was built in 1865 by Foster and Andrews ofHull. Improvements were made by the same firm in 1901 and 1906. In 1927 Jardine and Company ofManchester cleaned the organ and in 1989 they restored it.[10]
In theBuildings of England series it is described as "a small, rather strange church",[3] but Hughes disagrees, saying "it is one of Edmund Sharpe's more delightful designs".[5] In theNational Heritage List for England the description states that it is an "unusually unaltered example of an early 19th-century church".[2]
^abcHughes, John M. (2010),Edmund Sharpe: Man of Lancaster, John M. Hughes, pp. 172,177–178
^Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012),The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon:English Heritage, p. 212,ISBN978-1-84802-049-8
^Price, James (1998),Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, p. 81,ISBN1-86220-054-8
Media related toSt James' Church, Briercliffe at Wikimedia Commons
