Description

HUISH HUISH
SS 51 SW
4/120 Church of St James the Less
4.10.60
GV II*
Parish church. Late C15 or early C16 tower, the rest rebuilt in 1873 by G. E.
Street. Coursed stone rubble walls. Gable-ended slate roof. Stone chimney to
vestry.
Plan: nave, chancel, south aisle and porch, west tower and vestry on north side of
chancel. Apart from the late C15 or early C16 tower the church was entirely rebuilt
in 1873 mainly in the early Decorated style.
Exterior: 3-stage castellated west tower with obelisk finials. Round-headed granite
west doorway with roll and hollow moulding and arched hoodmould. C20 rebuilt 3-
light Perpendicular style west window. 2-light segmental arched belfry openings.
Slit openings for stair on north side. North side of nave has 3 2-light and one
single light plate tracery type windows. At east end is lean-to vestry with arched
doorway. Large 5-light east window of Decorated Style and similar small 2-light one
on south side of chancel. The south aisle has a 3-light early Decorated style
window to either side of the porch and a trefoiled light towards the east end.
Single storey gabled south porch with 2 centred moulded arched doorway and diagonal
buttress either side.
Interior: south doorway has pointed arch with nookshafts. The internal walls are
lined with fine sandstone ashlar. The 3-bay arcade is of similar stone with 4-
centred arches and piers with moulded capitals. Wide similar chancel arch and
pointed sandstone tower arch. Chancel has sedilia and piscina in south wall. Arch
in north wall to vestry. Arch-braced collar beam roof to nave with cusping to
arches and angels corbels to principal rafters. Boarded roof to chancel and plain
wagon roof to aisle.
Octagonal front of Caen stone with very fine fleuron carving to panels and stem
consisting of clustered shafts, alternate ones of marble. The pulpit is of similar
stone, 3 sided with tracery carved panels. On the west wall of the nave is an oval
slate wall memorial to Jane Wollacombe who died in 1777. To the other side of the
tower arch are 2 more wall memorials - one slate with nowy head dated 1668 the other
marble and oval to William Spurway Gent who died 1715.
Source: Pevsner: Buildings of North Devon

Listing NGR: SS5337211087

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536681

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)