St James' Church, Christleton

St James’ Church stands in the village of Christleton, Cheshire, on a site first recorded in the Domesday Book. The present building mixes 15th-century stonework with a major 19th-century restoration by William Butterfield, who kept the medieval tower and added new details. The church is one of only a handful in Cheshire designed by Butterfield and remains an active Anglican parish church. Its exterior shows red and white ashlar sandstone with a green slate roof and a shingled pyramidal cap on the tower. The tower has diagonal buttresses, louvred bell-openings and embattled parapets with gargoyles. The interior keeps Butterfield’s chequerboard scheme of red and white sandstone in the upper walls. The chancel has a large alabaster reredos with mosaic panels and Minton tile flooring. Stained glass includes work by Gibbs, Kempe, Cliff Boddy and Bill Davies, while the painted royal arms panel dates from 1665. The font is Sicilian marble on Derbyshire limestone, and the two-manual organ was rebuilt by Rushworth and Dreaper. A ring of eight bells cast in 1928 hangs in the tower. Outside, the churchyard holds an 18th-century sundial and a Grade II listed lych gate designed by Butterfield. War graves include those of six First World War soldiers and a Home Guardsman from the Second World War. A headstone marks the Huggins family from 1884, and the churchyard retains the old village constable’s staff among its fittings.