St James' Church, Church Kirk

St James’ Church stands on St James’ Road in Church, a village within Hyndburn, Lancashire. It is a redundant Anglican church, closed in November 2015 after centuries of use. The building is recorded on the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed structure. A church has occupied the site since 642 AD, linked to St Oswald’s journey from Northumbria. The tower belongs to the late medieval period, while the nave was built in 1804–05. A parapet was added to the tower in 1844, and the chancel was completed in 1895–96. The church’s exterior is built of sandstone with slate roofs, the tower using uncoursed stone. The plan includes a five-bay nave, a three-bay chancel, and a west tower supported by buttresses. The tower has a low rectangular west door, a three-light Perpendicular window above it, and clock on one side. The nave has two tiers of round-arched Georgian windows with Victorian tracery. Inside, galleries run along three sides, carried on octagonal cast-iron columns with fluted capitals. The interior features a flat ceiling and a 1909 opus sectile reredos by J. Powell & Sons. The Perpendicular-style font remains in place. Two sets of stained-glass windows in the south nave depict the Four Evangelists, remade by Morris & Co. in 1918 after damage. Windows on the south side of the chancel date from 1927 by B. D. Walmsley. The original ring of eight bells, cast in 1865–67, has been removed for rehanging elsewhere.