St James' Church, Norlands

St James’ Church stands in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a Grade II listed building affiliated with the Church of England. The church was designed by Lewis Vulliamy and Robert Jewell Withers and completed in 1845. Its white Suffolk brick walls face east to west, with the tower placed south of the central bay. The entrance is through a porch at the base of the tower, opening onto Addison Avenue. The simple body of the church makes the three-stage tower, added in 1850, the most striking feature. The tower has gabled buttresses on the first stage, clock faces on the second, and deeply recessed lancets on the final belfry stage. A drawing in Kensington Public Library shows the tower was meant to have a broach spire, but this was never built. The thin octagonal pinnacles on each corner now stand out against the sky. Vulliamy’s original plan included polygonal apses at both ends, but only the eastern end was extended in 1876 by R. J. Withers. This extension created the present chancel, vestries and organ chamber. The church sits in a small private garden square with two lawns and planting around the edges. Mature chestnut and lime trees surround the garden, dominating the views. The gardens are usually closed to the public but open occasionally. Inside, the church houses a historic pipe organ built in 1895 by James Jepson Binns. It was moved to the west gallery in 1921. Betty Roe served as organist for many years, contributing to local music making with her husband, John Bishop. Jane Parker-Smith also played the organ here before taking up her long appointment at Christuskirche in Knightsbridge.