St James the Great, Colchester, Essex

St James the Great was, as seems the norm in Colchester, locked which is a shame as the interior sounds interesting. In the churchyard is a CWGC headstone dated 1960.

ST JAMES THE GREATER, High Street. The chancel and chancel chapels of this church, high up above the rise of East Hill into High Street, are perhaps the best Perp work in Colchester. The rest of the church is of less importance. The NW angle of the nave is proof of Norman origin. The W tower may be C13 (see one upper s window) altered in the CT4. Diagonal buttresses and battlements. The odd little spire does not belong to the restoration of 1871. Of that date the clerestory windows, and N and s aisle windows. The N and S chancel chapels and the chancel E end are faced with knapped flint. The N chapel in addition, as it faces the street, has a parapet decorated with a frieze of triangles with trefoils alternately the right and the wrong way up. Internally the chancel is splendidly tall with a five-light E window and tall N and S arcades. The piers are lozenge-shaped with four slim shafts and four long shallow diagonal hollows. The two chapels have large three-light windows and ceilings with prettily carved beams. The S chapel E window has even four lights. Both chapels have flat ceilings. with pretty carved beams. The nave arcades are more curious but less impressive. They are of four different varieties, in chronological order SE (two bays, octagonal pier, arches with one concave and one convex moulding; c. 1300), NE (two bays, octagonal pier, arches with two hollow chamfers; mid C14), then SW and NW differing only in minor features (C15 piers with, towards the nave, as their central motif, thin polygonal shafts without capitals). - STAINED GLASS. S chapel E and SE. Tall figures of apostles, c. 1850, said to have been obtained from Belgium or Holland.- PLATE. Salver of 1705; two flagons 1752. - MONUMENTS. Brasses of 1569 and 1584 in the chancel floor. -  Arthur Winsley d. 1727. Standing wall-monument with semi-reclining figure in informal dress.

St James’s church on East Hill was begun in the 11th century and stands near the Roman wall by the east gate. It belongs to all our three building centuries, and its tower has Roman bricks. The chapel and the chancel have their original roofs, and the tower and the vestry have 15th century doors. The font was new when the doors were hung. Hanging on the wall is a big picture of the Nativity by George Carter. There is a 16th century brass with portraits of John Maynard and his wife (she headless), and at the west end reclines Arthur Winsley, a remarkable figure meditating, wearing a cloak and holding a book in which we read "Go and do likewise? He founded 12 charity houses 200 years ago.

Flickr.