Hadleigh is a small town in the S of Essex that forms part of the conurbation that runs practically seamlessly from Southend-on-Sea in the E to Basildon in the W. Despite this it retains its own character, centred on the church of St James the Less that now occupies a large island in the A13. The church is substantially of the 12thc and consists of a chancel with an apsidal E end, the apse arch having been removed but the responds retained, while the 12thc chancel arch remains, flanked on the nave side by plain round arches. One plain 12thc window remains on the N chancel wall, while the apse has 3 segmental windows. The nave is tall with a W gallery housing the organ and 5 plain 12thc lancets remain in the side walls. The N and S nave doorways retain their round-headed rere arches, but the outer faces of both have been replaced. The S doorway is covered by a weatherboarded porch and the N by a large vestry, built in 1927 by Nicholson and now used as a kitchen and lavatory block. There is also a plain W doorway. There is no tower, but a 16thc weatherboarded bell turret with a slender broach spire is built over the W gable of the nave. The church is of rubble with clay tiled roofs. It was restored by G. E. Street in 1855-56.

Hadleigh is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey, but is assumed to have been included in the Honour of Rayleigh. Hence it was held by Swein of Essex in 1086, and subsequently by Robert fitzSwein, and his son Henry of Essex (d.1170) a royal Constable in the reigns of Stephen and Henry II, whose disgrace, trial by combat and retirement to Reading Abbey is detailed in Baxter (2016).

The lateral nave doorways have been reduced in height but not in width, commonly found in Essex for reasons it is difficult to imagine. The chip-carved hexagon set in the jamb of the N doorway is related to a series of such markes, ranging from scratched and compass-drawn motifs to skilful carvings like this ones that are normally labelled “protection marks”.