Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1100 to 1899 Church 13thC & later.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1100 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TR 25 NE 11 :
[TR 26935663] St James's Church [NAT] (1) The Church of St. James, Staple, is 13th c., 15th c. and 19th c. Grade 3. (2) In normal use. (3) Additional bibliography. (4-6) Listed Grade I. [Full architectural description]. (7)

In 2003 works were undertaken around the base of the tower, relating to the installation of drains. These works revealed the foundations of the tower, which consisted of chalk blocks and a masonry sub-foundation set atop these. Possible traces of a medieval tiled floor were also seen, represented by scars in a mortar layer where tiles may have been set. The buttresses were found to abut the sub-foundations indicating that they were added sometime after the building of the tower. A sherd of late 13th to early 14th century pottery was found in the construction trench for the tower foundations (6).

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TR 25 NE STAPLE THE STREET
(North Side) 5/236 Church of St. James 11.10.63 GV I
Parish Church. C12 origins, C14 fenestration, restored by Street 1868-9. Flint with plain tiled roofs. Chancel and nave in one build, north aisle to nave, north chapel to chancel, south porch and west tower. Two stage tower with offset clasping buttresses, string course and battlements. Lancet windows in upper stage, moulded western doorway with attached shafts. Nave and chancel with 5 offset buttresses, largely C19, and C19 south porch, with C16 six panelled and ribbed door. Chancel east window C.1300, 5 cinquefoiled lights under hood mould, 1 small lancet to chancel south wall, C14 and C15 style windows elsewhere, as much Street's restorations as original. Large brick buttress between nave and tower to north west. Interior: unmoulded pointed tower arch with scalloped wall brackets set in wall to left and right. North arcade of 3 bays, C15, with double chamfered arches, piers with clustered shafts, and responds with attached shafts. Nave and chancel roof in one build, 6 crown posts in nave and 2 in chancel on moulded knee-braces. North aisle with lean-to roof on crenellated wall plate and moulded cross-beams. Single arch with double chamfer from chancel to north chapel, with C19 side doorway. Braced rafter roof in north chapel. Fittings: trecusped piscina and small trecusped aumbry on north wall in chancel. C16 screen from north aisle to chapel, 4 bays with solid lower panels on either side of central restored door. Crenellated top beam. C15 font on double stepped base, octagonal bowl and stem, the bowl decorated with symbols of 4 evangelists alternating with demi-angels, pilgrim and the Trinity. Stem with lions and wild men. Ornate chandelier of brass and possibly wood in tower. Monuments: in the chapel a good series. Identical pair of tablets to John Lynch d.1732, with white plaque and grey marble surround, fluted Doric pilasters with frieze and open pediment with achievement over. Oval wall tablets to Lynch family with moulded surrounds and acanthus motifs, and to John Squire, d.1661. John Clarke, 1691, wall tablet with draped and foliated scrolled sides, egg and tongue frieze and cornice and scrolled base with crossed olive sprigs. William Lynch, d.1785. Wall plaque on brackets with coat of arms as base. Ribboned portrait medallion, on base decorated with star and ribbon of Order of Bath. In the north aisle, large white marble wall plaque to Gratianus Lynch, d.1674, with architectural surround, black marble Ionic columns and foliated scrolls with open segmental pediment and achievement, all on enriched bracketed base. Tablets with draped urns, to Reverend William Tatton, d.1782, and Terry Marsh, d.1789, both by Longley of Canterbury. Brass: in north chapel, about 2 foot high brass of a civilian, early C16. (See B.O.E. Kent II, 1983, 466).
Listing NGR: TR2673656692 (7)

<1> OS 6" 1960 (OS Card Reference). SKE48367.

<2> MHLF (2067/11/A Sept 1960) 46 (OS Card Reference). SKE46896.

<3> F1 FGA 30-JUN-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43001.

<4> Field report for monument TR 25 NE 11 - June, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5716.

<5> DOE (HHR) Dist. Dover 26-Nov-1987 (89) (OS Card Reference). SKE40432.

<6> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2003, An archaeological watching brief during groundworks relating to the re-ordering the tower base of the church of St. James the Great, Staple, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE15945.

<7> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading