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St James' Church, Stretham
North-west view from High Street. Single clock face can be seen on east face of tower
St James' Church, StrethamLocation in Cambridgesire
52°21′N 0°13′E / 52.35°N 0.22°E / 52.35; 0.22
OS grid reference	TL 513 747
Location	Stretham, Cambridgeshire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Evangelical
Website	St James' Church, Stretham
History
Founded	c.12 century
Dedication	Saint James
Events	Extensive rebuilding 1868 Severe restoration 1876
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	5 February 1952
Architect(s)	J P St Aubyn
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Capacity	312
Length	28 metres (92 ft)
Width	13 metres (43 ft)
Nave width	5.5 metres (18 ft)
Number of spires	1
Materials	Mainly rag and Barnack stone; crested ridge tiled roof
Administration
Province	Province of Canterbury
Diocese	Diocese of Ely
Parish	Stretham
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Bishop of Ely
Vicar(s)	Rev. Margaret Harper
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	David Buller Tim Hill
File:Logo of the Church of England.png

St James' Church, Stretham, is an Anglican church in the village of Stretham, Cambridgeshire, England. Founded in the 12th–century, this grade II* listed church was heavily restored by the architect J P St Aubyn in 1876. The clock on the east face of the tower is also 1876 by JB Joyce & Co of Whitchurch, Shropshire; it still keeps good time. This active church is one of eight churches in the Ely Team Ministry.

History

The earliest written record of the Church is in the Liber Eliensis, a twelfth–century history of the Isle of Ely. In 1137, during Bishop Nigel's (c. 1100 – 1169) time, Anglo-Saxon conspirators were said to have met in Stretham church. Care should be taken when interpreting what the twelfth–century historians write, as there were known political motives; in this case, however, the written record seems to agree with other evidence, as fragments of the east chancel are known to be c.twelfth–century.

In 1751, Francis Blomefield recorded St James' as having a square tower, 4 bells and a clock. The north aisle is leaded and there is a chantry chapel at the east end with a screen. He concludes this to be the Chancel of the Resurrection. At this time, the south aisle, nave and chancel were also recorded as leaded.

The church was restored very heavily in 1876 by the architect J P St Aubyn at a cost of £4,400 or £522,803 at present worth, as of 2024. The north and south transepts were added at this time as well as the whole south aisle of the nave, the chancel, a clerestory and a new porch.

This grade II* listed building was originally listed grade A on 5 February 1952 until a resurvey and regrading on 19 August 1988. The church records for baptism 1558–, banns 1759–1963, marriages 1558–1952, and burial 1558–1956 (C of E only) are kept in the County Records Office, Cambridge. Since 1990, St James' Church has had an ecumenical agreement with the Stretham Methodists.

St James is part of the Ely Team Ministry, a group of eight churches: St Mary's, Ely; St Peter's, Ely; St Leonard's, Little Downham; St Michael and All Angels, Chettisham; St George's, Little Thetford; St James, Stretham; Holy Cross, Stuntney; St Peter's, Prickwillow. The Prickwillow church was closed for worship in 2008; it is part of the parish of St Mary's, Ely.

Architecture

Exterior

The building is mainly 14th–century although the east wall of the chancel contains remnants of 12th–century material. The ashlar-faced tower is 14th–century with angled buttresses north and south. The west window has three-lights with flowing tracery. The clock on the east face of the tower, dated 1876, is by JB Joyce & Co of Whitchurch, Shropshire, the oldest firm of tower clockmakers in the world; it is wound weekly by the churchwardens.

The east wall of the chancery has one window with five-lights (stained glass panels) with tracery above in a gothic style. The church floodlighting is supported by funds from the National Lottery church floodlighting trust

Interior

Clamped buttresses dating from the 12th–century are visible in the chancel. There is a lowered sill on the south-east window of the chancel for three-seats (sedilia); a cabinet (aumbry) is along the east of the north wall with an arched tomb recess to the west of it with an inscribed tomb lid which commemorates Nicholas de Kyngestone, late 13th–century rector. A 1440 oak screen to the chancel is very finely carved. Anne Brunsell, sister of Sir Christopher Wren and wife of rector, has a black marble slab in the chancel dated 1667. The pipe rack organ, built in 1886 by J W Walker and sons of London, is in a chamber built onto the south wall of the chancery. Paddy Benson of Norman & Beard Limited, Norwich, carried out a reconstruction and enlargement of the organ in 1907 at a cost of £350 or £46,768 at present worth, as of 2024; it was converted to electric blowing sometime after 1937.

Bells

Until c. 1950, the church had a ring of five bells hung for change ringing; around this time, a sixth bell was added and one bell was recast, replacing a 1727 bell by Henry Penn of Peterborough. The oldest bell now is the 840-millimetre (33 in) 360-kilogram (790 lb) number four bell of 1796 by Joseph Eayre; the newest are of 1951 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. This set of six bells are rung from the ground floor.

According to Canon K W H Felstead's (and subsequent) records, maintained by the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, there have been 78 peals rung at St James' Church, Stretham, since 1952. However, there is presently no regular ringing at the church.

Rectors

Records before 1523 have not been confirmed

References

Footnotes

1. pews=206, free-standing chairs=106; seats for 15 within chancel not counted
2. ^ Using RPI as describe in Choosing the Best Indicator to Measure Relative Worth
3. Notice inside porch
4. Copy of agreement displayed on the notice board inside the porch
5. Plaque inside porch
6. Bells, one to six respectively are E, D, C, B, A and G. Tenor is 1,085-pound (492 kg) in G (761Hz)
7. also Rysseley, Richardus
8. also Younge, John
9. also Rydley Lancelet
10. also Parker, Johannes
11. also Jones, Edwin
12. also Lawrence, William
13. also Felton, Nicholas
14. also Brunsell, Henry and Brumsell, Henry
15. also Oldham, Richardus
16. also Kemp, Robertus and Kempe, Robert
17. also Perkins, Radulphus
18. also Thomas, Carolus
19. also Browne, James
20. also Baber, Henry Harvey

Notes

1. ^ "Church of St James, High Street (west side) Stretham, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire". Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved 17 August 2010.
2. ^ Pugh 1953, p. 155 col. 2
3. ^ Pevsner 1970, p. 462
4. Fairweather 2005, p. 362 note 203
5. Fairweather 2005, p. 364
6. Blomefield 1751, pp. 21–25
7. "Stretham, St James' (1874-76)". Church plans online. Lambeth Palace Library. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
8. ^ Kelly 1929
9. "Church of St James High Street Stretham, Ely, Cambs". East Cambridgeshire District Council. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
10. "St Mary's Church, Ely:Team churches". St Mary's. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
11. "The Messenger" (PDF). Prickwillow Village Magazine. 2007. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
12. Pugh 1953, p. 156 col. 1
13. "Time to spare in Whitchurch". BBC. 13 January 2006. Retrieved 22 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. St Aubyn, J P (1874), Stretham parish Church:Detailed plans, vol. P147/6/1, Cambridgeshire Heritage Collection: Incorporated chuch building society {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. "St James' Church, Stretham:History". Retrieved 18 August 2010.
16. "Cambridgeshire, Stretham St. James [N10223]". The British Institute of Organ Studies. 2005. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
17. ^ Cradock, Andrew (2010). "Felstead Database - Peal List for Tower: Stretham, St James the Great, Cambridgeshire, England". Central Council for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
18. Pugh 1953, p. 155 col. 1
19. ^ Higson, Andrew (2008). "Stretham, Cambs S James Gt". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers (online ed.). Central Council for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
20. "St James the Great, Stretham, Cambridgeshire". Ely Diocesan Association of Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 24 August 2010.
21. Crockford's Clerical Directory(subscription required) and CCED (Clergy of the Church of England database)
22. Wright, Stephen (2004), "Parker, John (1532/3–1592) (subscription required)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, retrieved 22 August 2010 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
23. Fincham, Kenneth (2010) ODNB Felton, Nicholas (1556–1626)
24. "Ecclesiastical intelligence". The Manchester Guardian. 27 September 1994. p. 8. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
25. "Ecclesiastical Appointments". The Times. Thursday 15 January 1885. p. 10. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
26. "Ecclesiastical Intelligence". The Times. Friday 17 August 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
27. "Deaths". The Times. Wednesday 8 August 1945. p. 1. Retrieved 25 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)(subscription required)
28. "Ecclesiastical news". The Times. Thursday 5 May 1955. p. 12. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
29. "Ecclesiastical news". The Times. Thursday 25 November 1965. p. 14. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
30. "Church news". The Times. Monday 30 May 1966. p. 10. Retrieved 23 August 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)(subscription required)
31. Village website

Bibliography

• Blomefield, Francis (1751), "Stretham", Collectanea Cantabrigiensia, or Collections relating to Cambridge, University, town, and county, Francis Blomefield, retrieved 21 August 2010 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• Fairweather, Janet (2005), , The Boydell Press, ISBN 1843830159 {{citation}}: Check |url= value (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
• Kelly, Lindsay A (1929), Cambridgeshire:Stretham, Kelly's Directories, retrieved 21 August 2010
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1970), Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) (2nd ed.), Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0300095869
• Pugh, R.B., ed. (1953), The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Cambridge and the isle of Ely, vol. IV, Oxford University Press, pp. 151–159 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Baldwin, John (2000), Dove's guide for church bell ringers to the ringing bells of Britain and around the world (9 ed.), Central Council of Church Bell Ringers, ISBN 9780900271679 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• John Henry Parker (1852), "106. St James", in Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (ed.), The ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England. Bedfordshire (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk), Oxford and London: John Henry Parker
• Percy William Pegge (1851), "Stretham Parish", History, gazetteer and directory of Cambridgeshire, Peterborough: Robert Gardner, p. 505

External links

• Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.
• Ringing World The Weekly Journal for Church Bell Ringers since 1911

• Grade II* listed buildings in Cambridgeshire
• 19th-century architecture
• 14th-century architecture
• 12th-century architecture