St James, Spaldwick, Huntingdonshire

I Location

Site Location
Spaldwick
National Grid Reference
TL 128 728
County
traditional: Huntingdonshire
now: Cambridgeshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln to 1837
now: Ely
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St James
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior from SW (portrait).

Exterior from SW (portrait).

Exterior from S (landscape).

Exterior from S (landscape).

Interior to SW.

Interior to SW.

Church Plan

Church Plan

St James's has a 12thc. nave to which a four-bay S aisle was added in the late 13thc. The chancel and its arch are also late 13thc., and a S chapel was added c. 1500, when the aisle was rebuilt. Clerestoreys were added to N and S of the nave late in the 14thc. The W tower is also 14thc. work. It has a broach spire with three tiers of lucarnes and rises 152 feet. Construction is of stone and pebble rubble, save the tower and spire (of ashlar) and the nave clerestorey (of brick). Romanesque sculpture is found on the N doorway and the font.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) N nave doorway

N doorway.

N doorway.

N doorway, E side, label stop.

N doorway, E side, label stop.

N doorway, W label stop

N doorway, W label stop

N doorway, W side, arch.

N doorway, W side, arch.

N doorway, apex head.

N doorway, apex head.

Two orders, round-headed.

1st order: continuous with an angle roll.

2nd order: continuous with geometrical pseudo-beakhead (beaker-clasp), each unit consisting of a stepped, fluted clasp on an angle roll. The label is chamfered with a row of billet on the chamfer, and there are human head label stops, too worn to discern features, but turned towards one another across the doorway. At the apex above the label is a frontal, worn human head corbel.

Dimensions
h of opening 2.55 m
w of opening 1.32 m

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Font from NW.

Font from NW.

At W end of S aisle, an octagonal bowl, made from a square block chamfered in two steps at the angles. The upper rim has a roll and the lower rim a chamfer. The bowl stands on an octagonal central shaft with 4 circular angle shafts on a low plinth. The basin is lead lined and circular.

Dimensions
overall h 0.92 m
h of bowl 0.40 m
ext. diameter (AF) 0.74 m
ext. diameter (corner to corner) 0.79 m
int. diameter 0.59 m

VII History

In 1086 the manor of 15 hides was held by Ely abbey. No church was noted.

VIII Comments/Opinions

There seems to be a distant recollection of the Prior's Doorway at Ely in the disposition of the label stops of the N doorway. It is unfortunate that their state of preservation prevents a closer comparison.

IX Bibliography

  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Bedfordshire and the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, Harmondsworth 1968, 345.
  • RCHM(E), An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Huntingdonshire. London 1926, 242-44.
  • Victoria County History: Huntingdonshire. III (1936).