St James' Church, Whitehaven

St James’ Church stands on an elevated site in Whitehaven, overlooking the town from the crossing of High Street and Queen Street. Built in 1752–53, it is a Grade I listed Anglican church designed in the Neoclassical style. The rectangular body of the church embraces a west tower and ends in an elliptical apse lit by a dome. Nikolaus Pevsner called it the finest Georgian church interior in the county, and later guides describe it as serenely beautiful. The church was funded by Sir James Lowther, who gave the land, and its design has been linked to Carlisle Spedding or Christopher Myers. Inside, the west door leads to a vestibule etched with Sri Lankan national symbols. Galleries on the north, west, and south sides rest on Doric columns, while Ionic columns rise to the flat ceiling decorated with plaster roundels of the Annunciation and the Ascension. The apse holds a painting of the Transfiguration by Giulio Cesare Procaccini, given by the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale and said to have come from the Escorial. The 18th-century timber pulpit is polygonal, and the font is a shallow bowl of Florentine marble thought to date from the 17th century. The churchyard entrance is marked by Grade II listed gate piers with cornices, formerly topped by a wrought iron lamp holder. Stained glass windows by Shrigley and Hunt, William Wailes, and others fill the interior with colour. The three-manual pipe organ, built in 1909 and restored in 2011, stands beside a ring of twelve bells, the oldest cast in 1586 and 1624. The church remains an active place of worship in the diocese of Carlisle.