St James' Church, Ince

St James’ Church stands in the small village of Ince in Cheshire, a Grade II* listed building of red sandstone under grey slate roofs. The tower and part of the chancel survive from the medieval church built between 1485 and 1493 by Simon Ripley in Perpendicular style. In 1854 Edward Hodkinson rebuilt the nave, aisle and porch in the same style, raising the tower by two courses. The chancel roof, restored after 1671, shows oak arch-braced collars beneath a three-light Decorated window in its east wall. Inside, Jacobean altar furniture and late 17th-century altar rails frame a sanctuary chair of 1634 and a two-tier candelabrum dated 1724. The royal coat of arms of Queen Anne hangs in the nave, and Kempe designed two stained glass windows in the chancel. Three bells date from 1622 and 1636, while parish registers begin in 1687 and churchwardens’ accounts in 1749. Outside, a 19th-century sandstone churchyard wall encloses the building and its graves. Near the tower’s north-west corner lies the war grave of a Royal Navy sailor from the Second World War.