St James's is of stone rubble, and has an aisled nave with four-bay arcades, the S c.1300, the N a little later. The nave doorways are late medieval, the S under a porch. The chancel is early 13thc. and retains its lancets and piscina, although the E window is 19thc. The W tower is short and unbuttressed, of the late 12thc. but its bell-openings are 14thc. The only Romanesque features are the tower arch capitals and the font.

In 1086 Newbottle was held by Ivo from Hugh de Grandmesnil. No church was recorded. The first mention of this is its grant to Dunstable Priory by William du Pin, confirmed by Bishop Robert Chesney (1148-66). By the 13thc. Newbottle was a possession of Dunstable.

Benefice of King's Sutton and Newbottle and Charlton.

The font, of course, is quite undateable. As for the tower arch, Pevsner implies that the arch and its embrasures and capitals are all of a piece, dating it c.1190-1210, but the present author prefers an earlier date for the capitals and embrasures, perhaps around the middle of the 12thc., and a much later one for the arch.