St James the Great Church is a Grade I listed Church of England parish church dedicated to James, son of Zebedee in Aslackby, Lincolnshire, England. The church is north from Bourne, and in the Aslackby and Laughton parish on the eastern edge the South Kesteven Lincolnshire Vales.
The church is significant for its historic association with the Aslackby Preceptory of the Knights Templar, and its unusual arch details in the tower.
St James' is in the ecclesiastical parish of Aslackby, and one of six churches in the Billingborough Group of Parishes, with their associated churches, in the Deanery of Lafford and the Diocese of Lincoln. Other churches in the group are: St Andrew's Church, Horbling; St Andrew's Church, Billingborough; St Andrew's Church, Sempringham; St Andrew's Church, Dowsby; and Christchurch, Pointon. The Group constitutes the Gilbertine Benefice."St. James the Great, Aslackby", Ourchurchweb.org.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2014 St James' is within the Aslackby conservation area."Aslackby " , Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire, Lincshar.org. Retrieved 25 June 2014
History St James' parish register dates from 1558.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p. 285
No church or priest for Aslackby is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book."Aslackby", Domesdaymap.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2014 The first mention of a priest is of Geoffrey de Temple in 1225, attendant to the Knights Templar who had established a preceptory at Aslackby the previous century. In 1164 benefactor Hubert de Rye provided a church and round chapel for the Templars, the remains of which stood until the 18th century when it became part of a farmhouse. The preceptory itself was probably founded in 1194 following the 1185 patronage of Robert de Rye. In 1312 the Templar preceptory was appropriated by King Edward II, and by 1338 it had been transferred to the Knights Hospitaller with an income of £40 per annum as a messuage—including church and associated land—under the control of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster. Following this the preceptory for administrative purposes became part of the previous Knights Templar property of Temple Bruer. The first Knights Hospitaller sponsored priest at Aslackby was Nicholas de Camelton in 1321. In 1541-42, following the dissolution of the monasteries, the lands were granted to Edward, Lord Clinton and his wife, Ursula. Parts of the original Templar round church still existed until 1800. The remaining preceptory tower was demolished in 1891. The building of the present St James' church was begun c.1300, conjoined to the appropriated Templar property. The church was extended in the mid-15th century, with a further restoration in 1856 at which time the chancel was rebuilt.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1933, p. 42Cox, J. Charles (1916): Lincolnshire pp. 48–49. Methuen & Co. Ltd.
By 1840 and until at least 1856, the parish vicarage and living, with a yearly net income of £453 from tithes and of glebe—land used to support a parish priest—was granted as property to layman R. F. Barstow (as impropriator), who became patron of Aslackby incumbent clergy.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1885, p. 13White, William; History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire, 1856, p. 705 By 1876 the living, increased to a value of £480 with an included residence, was in the gift of Rev John Smithson Barstow who was also the recipient as incumbent until 1906, after which Rev Robert Stanley Coupland became vicar initially through the gift of Barstow who had removed to Aldershot. By this time the value of the living had dropped to £260. Coupland remained vicar until at least 1933.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1905, p. 35Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1909, p. 41
St James' achieved English Heritage Grade I building listing status on 30 October 1968.
In 2010 the church received a grant of £10,000 for 'community' purposes from the National Churches Trust."St James the Great", National Churches Trust. Retrieved 25 June 2014
Also in 2010 the church was subject to Archaeological Monitoring and Recording during excavations as part of the establishment of welfare services. The £135,000 refurbishment added a tower meeting room behind a new screen, an oak kitchen, toilets and central heating. The works included construction of a pit for an oil storage tank for a new boiler. Trenches were dug within the churchyard, tower and north aisle. Some human remains, including a child's, were unearthed in the churchyard—subsequently reburied—as was animal bone. Stone foundations at the south from the church were found that predate the tower. Pieces of 5th- to 8th-century Saxon to 19th-century pottery were found, and possible post holes that might indicate timber structures as part of the church's history. Some pottery was identified as being from Staffordshire and Derbyshire. An Early Medieval floor of layered straw was exposed. Tower floor excavations uncovered fragments of 19th-century glass and ironwork, and evidence of pre-14th- or 15th-century stonework that had been integrated into the tower."St James Church, Aslackby, South Kesteven - Archaeological Monitoring and Recording", Archaeology Data Service. Acceptance of terms required. Retrieved 25 June 2014"Medieval earth floor discovered in church" , Rutland and Stamford Mercury, 5 August 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2014"Aslackby and Laughton, South Kesteven, Lincolnshire", Heritage Gateway, English Heritage. Retrieved 25 June 2014"St James's Church and churchyard, Aslackby", Heritage Gateway, English Heritage. Retrieved 25 June 2014"The Church of St James the Great". Retrieved 25 June 2014. Pdf download required
As part of the 2010 refurbishment an 18th-century Hanoverian coat of arms was restored. The arms, possibly originally positioned within the chancel arch, had been held in storage for perhaps 150 years, since probably after an 1856 chancel restoration. In 2008 the neglected arms were removed from storage to its present position within the tower to await the recent restoration."St James Church - Coat of Arms", Aslackby and Laughton Parish Council, Lincolnshire County Council. Retrieved 25 June 2014, Lincolnshire County Council. Retrieved 25 June 2014"New Design Work in Historic Places of Worship", English Heritage. Retrieved 25 June 2014
The church was pictorially featured in the July 2009 edition of Country Life magazine, under the title "Let there be light". In the same issue the magazine described the St James' restoration as one of community involvement and fundraising over five years, particularly referring to the Hanoverian coat of arms "restored by the community". Church use was open to non-liturgical activities including concerts, talks, family activities, and a film club."Let there be light", Country Life magazine, 29 July 2009, p. 67 St James received a runner-up £5,000 prize and silver medal for its restoration in the 2012 'Village Church for Village Life Award' sponsored by Country Life, mentioning a church transformation with new upholstered seating, kitchen, toilets and west screen."Parish Church Restoration", Country Life magazine, July 2012
The Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival staged a 2012 'Meet the Composer' event at St James' with composer and violist Sally Beamish, and held string instrument workshops for children. In August the same year a concert was performed under the Festival by classical pianist Ashley Wass."Sounds & Spaces", Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival. Retrieved 25 June 2014"Skegness-Born Pianist in Concert", Skegness Standard, 15 August 2012.
In 2007 St James' was subject to theft of lead to the value of £13,000 from the church roof by a "trio from Lithuania" who had been responsible for twenty such thefts, particularly in Lincolnshire, resulting in £1 million of damage."Three men facing jail for stealing lead from Lincolnshire churches", Lincolnshire Echo, 10 July 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2014, The Grantham Journal, 7 March 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2014"Three plead guilty to Lincolnshire church metal theft", BBC News, 3 July 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2014"Repairs due after church lead thefts" , Bourne Local, 4 January 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2014
Architecture
Exterior
St James' is of limestone-ashlar and coursed-ironstone rubble construction. It comprises a chancel, nave, north and south aisles, a west tower and a south porch, and is of Early English and Perpendicular styles.Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John: The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Penguin (1964); revised by Nicholas Antram (1989), Yale University Press, p. 440.
The tower is early 14th-century, Perpendicular, and of two stages—a tall lower stage, with belfry above—and is partly clasped by the north and south aisles. Angled buttresses of three steps run at each corner to the belfry stage and are continued to near the parapet by square shafts, topped by crocketed pinnacles set away from the tower face. On both west corners the buttresses sit on a moulded socle (plinth) topped by a cill band—angled projection that allows water to flow from a building face—that continues in this style around the tower and south aisle only. The north-east and south-east buttresses spring from the north and south aisle and nave roofs. The north-west corner has a five-sided stair turret built out from the tower, with a slit window at the west, and belfry stairs within. Between each angle buttress, except those at the stair turret corner, is a projecting gargoyle at the height of the clerestory parapet. The tower 14th-century west doorway is pointed, with four set-back continuous mouldings set on a single running plinth. Around the doorway, from the spring, is a hood mould. Within the doorway is a plank double door with large decorative iron face hinges.
Above the west tower door is a large blocked pointed arch, chamfered above the spring, and vertically edged with round moulded jambs ending in open cusped devices. Around the arch is a hood mould. Within the arch is a 14th-century (Pevsner) or late 15th-century (National Heritage) window surrounded by a hood mould. The window opening jambs are single-chamfered, with the arch double-chamfered, and lead to a Perpendicular window. The lower part of the window is of three lights, separated by chamfered mullions and divided and topped by transoms containing castellated details, with tracery of trefoil heads and spandrels. Two further ranks of lights above are subdivided vertically into panel tracery—a Perpendicular style of upright straight openings above lower lights—with 'Y' tracery, trefoil heads, and quatrefoil openings. All lights are clear glazed within diamond leading.
On the south and north side of the tower are blocked arches mirroring that on the west side, but cut through by the later added north and south aisles. Pevsner debates whether these arches are "relieving arches" or decorative. Within the north blocked arch is a protruding 15th-century capped vent stack supported by corbels.
A string-course runs between the tower lower and belfry stages. Each belfry side contains a pointed arch opening of same style surrounded by a hood mould. A straight reveal leads to a louvered twin-light window with trefoiled ogee head, and a quatrefoil device above. The south belfry window also contains the tower clock: circular, blue, with gold numerals and hands. The tower parapet is embattled with a pinnacle at each corner. It projects slightly at the eaves and contains one gargoyle each side offset to the right.