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Copyright of Alf Beard

St James's Church,
Church Street / Station Road,
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in the 12th century, and we understand it is still open.

The British Listed Buildings website describes St James's Church as "a magnificent Cotswold wool church... predominantly Perpendicular in style (mid-late C15) but incorporating part of an earlier Norman church and C13 and C14 sections..." Kelly's Directory of 1923 says "a large and handsome building of stone in the Late Decorated or Early Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles with chapels, south porch and an embattled western tower, with rich pinnacles, containing a clock and 8 bells, and a set of chimes to play every three hours". The chimes were thoroughly restored in 1890 by the family of the late Rev. Canon Kennaway, as a memorial to his widow, their mother. There is also a very large canopied brass in the chancel, with effigies, merchants' marks and marginal inscriptions, to the memory of William Grevel, "the flower of the wool merchants of all England", d.1401, and Marian (Thornborough) his wife, d.1386. Other brasses commemorate William Welley, merchant, d.1480, and William Gibbys, d.1484, with his three wives and thirteen children all of whom were merchants and burgesses of Campden. All the brasses have been removed into the chancel, where there is also a monument to Sir Thomas Smith knt. and lord of the manor 1593, with recumbent effigy in armour; below are bas-reliefs representing his two wives, thirteen living and two dead children. In the Noel chantry is a marble monument, with recumbent effigies, to Sir Baptist Hicks bart. first Viscount Campden, d.1628, and Elizabeth (May) his wife, under a canopy, supported on twelve marble columns... and another monument to Penelope, daughter of Edward Noel, Viscount Campden, and Juliana (Hicks) his wife, and wife of John, second Viscount Chaworth, d.1633. A flat stone is inscribed to Henry Hicks M.A. 50 years vicar, 1708, and Maria (Bartholomew) his wife, 1701.

In 1923 the living (a vicarage) had been held since 1916 by the Rev. George Edward Hitchcock M.A. of Pembroke College, Cambridge who was also rector of Aston-sub-Edge.

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference SP1547039450. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St James's Church, Chipping Campden shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Chipping Campden shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Chipping Campden, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.