St James' Church, Ansty

Church. C13 chancel; C14 north arcade. Nave, aisle and tower and restoration1856 by George Gilbert Scott. Chancel of coursed squared red sandstone with some ashlar patching. Nave of regular coursed grey sandstone; aisle and tower of ashlar. Old plain-tile roofs have pierced terracotta ridge cresting. Chancel has C19 coped gable parapet with gablet kneelers and cross finial. Nave has moulded cornice and parapet, and west gable parapet. Chancel, nave, north aisle, west porch tower. 2-bay chancel, 4-bay nave. Diagonal buttresses of 2 offsets throughout. Chancel has splay plinth. C19 east window of 3 stepped trefoiled lancets in chamfered arch with hood mould and foliage stops. Chamfered south doorway has hood mould and C19 plank door with decorative ironwork. Paired C19 trefoiled lancets to east, and western lancet. North side has 2-light chamfered mullioned eastern window and trefoiled western lancet. Nave, aisle and tower have splayed and moulded plinths. Nave has south buttress between eastern 2 bays. 2-light windows have geometrical tracery. Aisle has north buttress. 3-light east window has panel tracery. North-east corner has octagonal stone stack. North side has two straight-headed windows of 3 trefoiled lights. Similar 2-light west window. Porch tower of 2 stages. Upper part of first stage is octagonal. West diagonal buttresses rise into pedestals with seated statues. Doorway of 2 moulded orders has keeled nook-shafts to outer order and double-leaf doors with decorative ironwork. Hood mould with head stops. Elaborate Decorated- style image niche above has crocketed canopy and statue.North side has shallow stair projection. South side has trefoiled lancet. Upper window of 4 mouchettes to north and south. Weathering between stages. Second stage has elaborately moulded openings with reticulated tracery, hood moulds and head stops to alternate sides. Moulded cornice has gargoyles and foliage bosses. Moulded embattled parapet with blind quatrefoils. Spire has lucarnes and finial.Interior is plastered. Chancel has elaborate stencil work of 1856. South-east window has trefoiled rere arch. Chancel and nave have queen strut roofs with windbraces; chancel has old moulded tie beam dated 1615. No chancel arch. 3-bay north arcade of 2 chamfered orders has octagonal piers with moulded bases and capitals. West doorway of 3 orders, the outer 2 segmental- pointed, has double-leaf doors. North aisle has queen strut roof, partly of old timbers, with simple bosses to tie beams. Fittings appear to be all of 1856. Chancel has encaustic tiles. Traceried altar rails. Elaborate Decorated-style traceried wood chancel screen has some Gothic openwork panels above. Stalls, pews and octagonal pulpit have blind tracery. Octagonal stone font has blind tracery. Large C19 triptych painting above shows the Baptism of Prince Peada. Stained glass: east window 1851; south-east 1851; nave north-west 1846; aisle east 1865; other C19 and early C20 windows. Wall monuments in nave: south-east: Simon Adams 1801.Neoclassical, with weeping woman and urn. South wall: John Adaas 1856. Large Gothic marble monument. The inscription records that he was 'a visiting justice of the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum. It was his happiness to be one of the first promoters of the humane system of the treatment of the insane'.