St James' Church, Stanstead Abbotts

St James’ Church stands on a hill above the Lea marshes, about 1.6 kilometres southeast of Stanstead Abbots village. It is built of flint rubble with stone dressings and brickwork in parts, its roofs tiled and porch timber-framed. Nikolaus Pevsner called it one of the best-preserved 18th-century village interiors in Hertfordshire. The church has a nave and chancel under one roof, a northeast chapel, south porch and west tower. The tower rises in two stages with angle buttresses and an octagonal stair turret higher than the parapet. The church dates from the 12th century for the nave and 13th for the chancel, with 15th-century tower and porch. In 1577 the northeast chapel was added, and in 1881 a new church took over services. Inside, the whitewashed walls show a 15th-century tower arch and four-bay north arcade on octagonal piers. The 13th-century circular font stands on a 15th-century pedestal, and a two-decker pulpit from the 16th century remains on the south wall. Visitors find the chapel’s kneeling effigies of Sir Edward Baesh and his wife, carved in 1587. Fragments of 16th-century stained glass in the chapel’s north window carry his arms and motto. The churchyard holds six Grade II monuments, including a 1746 tombchest to James Rowley and a 1725 memorial to Joseph Clarke. A ring of three bells includes two cast in 1605 and 1617 by Robert Oldfield. The organ, built in 1871 by Bevington and Sons, still stands in the nave.