oldbulkington

The parish church of ST. JAMES is situated on level ground on the north side of the village. It is approached by two side streets which join the main street at different points where it meanders towards the north. To the north of an extensive churchyard are open fields and the Vicarage.
It consists of a chancel with a vestry on the north; a nave, with a clearstory to the south only; north and south aisles; south porch; and a western tower. The chancel is three bays in length and the nave five.
Of the church as it existed early in the 13th century only the nave arcades remain, the north aisle having been rebuilt late in the same century. The south aisle was rebuilt and the present chancel added in the latter half of the 14th century. In the mid 15th century the west tower was built. The present south clearstory appears to have been either added or rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century, when the eastern window of the long wall of the south aisle was rebuilt in conjunction with an arched recess beneath the sill. An extensive restoration took place in the last century when the chancel vestry was added, the chancel arch rebuilt, and all the roofing reconstructed. The existing porch was built in 1907, when the tower was also restored, as was the south wall in 1928.
The east wall of the chancel contains a transomed four-light 14th-century window with a hood-mould and with a two-centred head of two moulded orders, the outer being a casement with an ovolo and the inner being hollow-chamfered, like the mullions, with a rounded fillet. Each light has a four-centred cinquefoiled head, which is repeated below the transom, where the spandrels are hollowed. In the traceried head is a trefoil above the centre mullion, which divides to form two side lancets, each with a similar but smaller trefoil. The gable, with sloping parapets, carries a modern cross finial above an apex stone with a cusped head. The kneelers are moulded and occur 18 in. above the top offsets of the paired buttresses at each angle, which have three weathered offsets. The plinth has two offsets, one moulded with a drip and a plain chamfer below; it returns round the buttresses and stops against the end walls of the aisles.
Like the remainder of the church, including recent additions, but excluding the tower, the chancel has walls of cream-coloured sandstone, the roof is tiled with modern bluish tiles which slope down to a chamfered course of corbels to north and south supporting open eaves. The south buttress is similar to those on the angles; to the east of it there is a single window and to the west a door with a window beyond. That to the east is a two-light window with a hood-mould and with a two-centred head and two small chamfered orders; each light is cinquefoiled and the tracery, which has been renewed, forms three cusped compartments. The window to the west is similar except for the lower portion, which has a sill at a lower level, having a transom at the sill level of the other window, thus providing two additional plain square lights. The priest's door, immediately to the west of the buttress, has a single hollow-chamfered order; the ogee head continues the line of the jambs without imposts; the bases to the jambs are much decayed. The door itself is modern.
On the north side the modern vestry has a projecting gable with a chimney rising past the apex. The roof is tiled like the chancel and intersects with the chancel wall a short distance below the eaves. The plinth matches that of the chancel and there is a two-light square-headed window on the east side. There is a window each side in the chancel wall similar to the eastern one opposite, but more of the original tracery remains.
The east gable of the nave has been rebuilt. It is equal in width to the chancel but rises 2 ft. higher, with a roof of modern tile, on the north side of which is a long valley between it and the north aisle roof. On the south side the lower lean-to roof of the south aisle is surmounted by the clearstory of five bays, of which the windows have square heads and are of three lights with four-centred heads over the inner chamfered order, the outer order forming a rectangular splayed frame. The spacing of the mullions is varied in the different windows, being slightly narrower in the centre one and those at either end.
The north aisle is built of a similar stone to that of the chancel, but is not of the same ashlar finish, and would appear to date from the 13th century. It is divided into three wide bays by buttresses which are similar to the pairs set square at the angles. They have two deep weathered offsets, and the plinth with two chamfered offsets returns round their bases. At the level of the window sills there is a string-course, consisting of a roll moulding with a fillet, which returns round the buttresses also. The buttress to the east of the centre bay has been utilized as a flue to the outside heating chamber, being rebuilt for this purpose above the lower offset. The eaves and gables have recently been rebuilt to match those of the chancel, and the gable at the west intersects with the north wall of the tower just to the west of its diagonal buttress. Both gables contain modern three-light windows with reticulated tracery and hood-moulds with head-stops. The east bay is pierced by a modern three-light window with a square head and hood-mould. The centre bay contains a similar modern window on the east side, and on the west there is an ancient doorway, blocked with masonry, having a lancet head of two chamfered orders; the string-course rises at springing height to form a hood-mould; on the east side of the doorway the plinth is cut off. The west bay has no openings.
The south aisle is narrower than that on the north and carries a low-pitched lean-to roof which is surrounded by a continuous moulded parapet. On the south-east angle there is a diagonal buttress, capped by a single deep chamfered offset reaching the level of the heads of the windows; the base-stone of the offset is gabled and cusped. Midway up its height there is a small chamfered offset returning round the buttress and stopping against the aisle walls; the plinth is similar. Unlike the north aisle the length is divided into five window bays in conformity with the nave divisions, but only one buttress occurs between the angles, on the west side of the eastern bay, and this is similar to the one described except that the top offset is not gabled. The remaining buttress (on the south-west angle) also has no gable, the chamfered plinth is deeper, and there is a short horizontal string-course round the buttress at the base of the top offset. The wall plinth consists of two chamfered offsets.
Only two of the original 14th-century windows remain, that in the second bay from the east and that in the east gable. They are two-light with two-centred equilateral heads of two moulded orders, the outer being practically square with a continuous roll fillet on the outer edge rising from a moulded base. The mullions and inner orders also have a roll fillet with a similar base. Each light has a cinquefoiled head, above which the mullion divides to form a cusped centrepiece. In each case the tracery has been replaced and in the end window the inner order of the jambs and head has been renewed also; they both have a hoodmould, which in the case of the latter dies into the return wall of the chancel. The second bay from the west is occupied by the south doorway, which is lancetshaped and of two continuous orders, the outer hollowchamfered. In front of it is a modern projecting porch which has a gable to the south and small windows to west and east; the roof is of red tiles whose ridge runs back at a height a little above that of the aisle parapet, which is gabled up at this point to accommodate it. The windows in the two bays adjacent are two-light, modern, and small in scale, and there is a third window identical with these in the west wall of the aisle. The window occupying the east bay is different from both the original and modern types. It is of three fourcentred lights with a square head and reaches to within 2 ft. of the upper edge of the parapet and was perhaps built to fit this layout as a small chantry in the late 15th century. The sill has a single splay, and the jambs are of two orders; the outer consists of a wide casement between two narrow chamfered fillets returning to form the square head. The two chamfered mullions are modern replacements. To the west of the window head a string-course, with underside chamfered, runs westwards, just clearing the buttresses and windows. There is a large yew tree to the south of this aisle.
The 15th-century tower is built of dark grey sandstone. It is divided by a weathered offset into two stages. The buttresses are diagonal and have five main offsets, the third level with the division between the two main stages; each is splayed, except that at the top which terminates each buttress where the string-course occurs below the parapet and supports a stone gargoyle in the form of a winged monster projecting diagonally beyond the buttress. The highest splayed offset marks the point where the buttress changes from being square below to being set diamondwise above, making the outer faces square with the walls of the tower. Half way up the belfry, on each projecting buttress face, occurs the sill of a small sunk panel with a crocketed hood.
The parapet is embattled, with three embrasures on each side, and at each angle carries a square finial with sunk trefoiled panels which supports a small hood with stops and finial; the main finial tapers above with crockets at the angles and a top finial. The low-pitched pyramidal roof of the tower is lead-covered and supports a flagstaff with gilded weathercock. A plinth surrounds the tower and its buttresses, stopping against the west walls of the aisles; it consists of an upper moulded splay, a wave-moulding with drip, and below there is a hollowed splay offset.
The belfry windows are two-light with a fourcentred head. They have two chamfered orders and there is a transom half-way up each mullion. Each light is trefoiled, and above is a single quatrefoil. There is a hood-mould, crocketed, with carved monsters as stops, and a short finial almost reaching the parapet string.
The tower vice, which winds within the south-west angle, is lighted by five slit windows evenly spaced in vertical alignment; each has a two-centred trefoiled head and a hood carrying two large crockets, a finial, and stops carved in the form of winged griffins. Also on the south face only, beneath the belfry windowsill, is a semi-octagonal niche. It has finely moulded jambs supporting a projecting ogee arched hood and canopy; the finial to the canopy is missing but must have stood above the sill level. On each side of the hood is small-scale shafting dropping down to half the height of the niche below. Below the niche a modern gilded dial clock covers the upper portion of the small central slit light, now blocked. On the other faces this central slit light is exposed, and is seen to be similar to those lighting the vice.
The only external openings in the lower stage are in the west—a doorway and a three-light mullioned and transomed window over. The window has a fourcentred head of two chamfered orders, both hollowed, and a sill with a double splay. The tracery and inner order below transom level have been renewed; these lights have four-centred cinquefoiled heads; the upper heads are ogee-shaped, cinquefoiled also, and carry minor mullions, with the main mullions rising straight to the main arch; each minor mullion terminates in a small diamond quatrefoil. The west doorway is contained within the returned ends of the tower plinth. It carries a single arch-ring with a four-centred head similar to those of the belfry windows, and the moulded single order is divided into three hollows separated by two roll fillets which spring from moulded bases; there is no impost. Both doorway and window carry hood-moulds with short wide finials, large crockets, and winged monsters as stops. The west door may have been reconstructed from the ancient oak of the original, the hinges being of recent date.
The whole of the interior walls have been plastered, except for the reveals of the exterior openings and such features as arcading and stone projections. In the chancel there is a modern stone cornice supporting the modern pointed barrel roof, which is boarded. The furniture of the sanctuary is all modern. On the south side there is an oak coat of arms dated 1629 at its base, and on the top cresting there are the initials P. O. A. In the north wall, close by the chancel arch, there is the open end of a squint. In the centre is a modern stone arch, opening into the priest's vestry, with a modern oak screen across it. There are some early-19thcentury wall monuments, and beneath the sill of the north-east window, within the sanctuary, is an aumbry of stone. The square recess is of dressed stone with a rebate for the door, which is modern. The hoodmould is a depressed ogee in shape, and is decorated by five maple leaves linked together by a flowing stem, the two lowest forming bosses. The chancel arch is modern with a two-centred arch revealing the full height of the chancel roof; the mouldings are Early English in type but heavily executed with Corinthiantype capitals.
The nave roof is modern, with braced principals supporting a collar-beam with a short king-post over, supported on modern foliated stone corbels. Both arcades consist of five arches of two chamfered orders on octagonal piers with semi-octagonal responds; the pier bases are mainly square, but are damaged and partly concealed beneath the timber flooring. They are early-13th-century. The arches to the south have on the nave side chamfered hoods, and all the headstops are modern. The outer chamfered order is splayed out to the full width of the voussoirs immediately above each abacus; the capitals vary—both responds and the western pier have bell capitals, the remaining piers have foliated capitals with plain flat leaf forms terminating in a boss at each angle. The abaci combine the varied use of small roll mouldings beneath projecting chamfers. The south side of this arcade carries no hood. The opposite arcade carries a hood-mould on the south side; the only original headstop is at the western end and is somewhat crude. The capitals to the responds provide support for the inner order of the arch only, the outer order being without impost. Over the four piers the stops to the inner order vary from those opposite, being pyramidal instead of splayed. All are bell capitals with varying abaci. The north side of this arcade has a hood-mould with mitred intersections and ancient head-stops at each end, that to the west being small and contemporary with the arcade, and that to the east being large and probably the work of the following century; below this head the respond is cut back and coved forward above the springing, probably to give access to the north-west end of the squint, which is now blocked and plastered over. The clearstory windows have an outer order which provides a rectangular splayed frame to the three lights of the inner order. On the west wall of the nave there is a chase cut in the stonework indicating a former nave roof of slight pitch and at a lower level.
The open roof of the south aisle, with braced rafters, is modern. The east bay is occupied by a small modern organ, at the back of which is the late-15th-century window, which has a flat internal sill beneath which is a recess with chamfered jambs, and a four-centred arch with a hollow within a wave-moulding, the former running into the arch and the latter forming a rectangular frame. Plain shields are superimposed at the outer ends of each spandrel and the remainder enriched with flowing foliage; the recess is 16 in. deep. The two 14th-century windows have small bases to the roll mouldings inside as well as externally. The bay at the west end forms a choir vestry, with modern screens.
In the north aisle the west window has a hood with original round carved heads as stops, but the hoodmould of the east window has modern head-stops. The bay at this end contains a recess in the north wall, built about 1300; its two orders of mouldings forming a two-centred head are much defaced. The outer order is stilted above the springing and consists of an enriched hollow mould; the inner mould includes a hollow and a roll with fillet which is supported on half-shafts with central fillets carried up into the bell capitals. This recess is also 16 in. in depth. There are 18th-century wall slabs on the north wall, and supporting a modern roof with braced principals are a series of modern stone corbels.
The tower arch is of two orders without imposts; the inner is a large roll with central fillet and the outer is a sunk chamfer; the base consists of a hollowed splay which follows round the general contour of the jambs. The space beneath the tower has a bellringers' loft with a modern timber floor above it, a step-ladder giving access on the south side. The doorway to the stone vice pierces a splayed wall in the south-west corner; it has a four-centred head and consists of a single hollow-chamfered order. There are 18th-century wall slabs on the north side.
The box pews were fitted in 1821, and the aisles between them are paved with slate and stone slabs. There is a remarkable marble font. Its base consists of a single drum from an antique column with low relief convex flutes between fillets; a shape like an inverted bell cut out of the solid upper end supports a white marble bowl surrounded by figures carved to depict the Baptism of Christ and supported on four feet enriched with panels containing dolphins. A flat elliptical panel is sunk into the fluted side of the column which is inscribed thus: 'This fragment of antiant Numidian marble was imported from Rome by Richard Hayward and given to this church mdcclxxxix.' The carvings were executed by Hayward, who lived at Weston Hall, and he also carved the marble monument to his parents in the church.
None of the ancient glass referred to by Dugdale remains. A few of the windows are filled with modern stained glass and the remainder have plain glazing with bands of pale green glass (also modern).
Within the south porch, and bonded into the stonework of the north wall, is a single voussoir from a 12th-century arch bearing zigzag enrichment, and in the south-west re-entrant angle is a late-12th-century bell capital.
There are six bells, of which the tenor is of the 16th century, probably by Thomas Newcombe; others are of 1605 by Newcombe, 1614 by John Greene of Worcester, 1676 by Henry Bagley, ) and two recently added.
The registers begin for baptisms and burials in 1606 and for marriages in 1683.

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