Building record 1842/1/1 - St. James' Church, Thrapston

Church. C13 and C14, nave and aisles rebuilt 1841/42, vestry rebuilt 1888. Limestone ashlar nave, aisles and tower and squared coursed limestone chancel. Lead roofs. Grade II* listed building

{1} Church. C13 and C14, nave and aisles rebuilt 1841/42, vestry rebuilt 1888. Limestone ashlar nave, aisles and tower and squared coursed limestone chancel. Lead roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, vestry and west tower. South elevation of chancel of 2-window range of C14 tall 2-light windows with geometrical tracery and transoms. Priest door between windows and single-stage buttresses to centre and corner. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet and finial. Fine C14 five-light east window with geometrical tracery. North elevation of chancel is a one-window range with tall C14 window similar to south elevation. Lean-to vestry attached to right is a 2-window range of 2-light square-head windows with a door in the return wall. South aisle is a 4-window range of C19 tall 2-light windows with plain tracery and carved label stops. 2-stage ashlar buttresses between windows and to corners. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets and blank east and west elevations. North aisle is a similar 4-window range to south aisle. Nave clerestory is a 4-window range of C19 two-light windows with 4-centred arch heads. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapets and C20 ashlar stack at south-east corner. Decorated west tower is of 5 irregular stages with a plinth. 4-stage clasping buttresses to lower 4 stages. West door has 2-centred arch head with deeply splayed roll mouldings, 2-light window above, under 4-centred arch head, has carved label stops. Single-light window to west face of fourth stage. 2-light bell-chamber openings with cusping and geometrical tracery to each face of upper stage. Quatrefoil and diamond frieze with central gargoyles has corbel table with castellated parapet above. Set-back octagonal ashlar spire has 3 tiers of lucarnes. Flat stair turret with lean-to roof is attached to north-east corner of lower 4 stages and has small doorway with 4-centred arch head and 2 small quatrefoil windows. Various C19 memorial tablets attached to external walls. Interior: 4-bay nave arcade of tall C19 Perpendicular style arches with quatrefoil piers with central bands corresponding with the underside of the gallery. Similar C19 chancel arch with triple-shafted responds. C14 triple chamfered tower arch, with polygonal responds. Some C19 carved label stops to nave and aisles. C19 chamfered and moulded arch, with plain responds, houses organ, between chancel and vestry. Gallery around 3 sides of nave is c.1841/42 with panelled front and supporting cast-iron columns, some with caryatids. Some original moulded beams to chancel roof and C19 roof structures to nave and aisles. Staircases to gallery to rear of aisles, have stick balustrades. Double piscina with central column and quatrefoil, to right of altar and triple sedilia alongside, with cusped and crocketed ogee heads and cluster shafts. C19 chancel screen, panelling, choir stalls and reredos. Box pews in gallery. Porch under west tower has C19 glazed draught lobby with Gothick glazing bars. Monuments: arms of Sir John Washington, C17 Mayor of Thrapston and ancestor of George Washington, said to be reset from Montague House and Nos.3/5 Chancery Lane (q.v.). Various C18 inscribed tablets in floor of chancel. Elizabeth Darnell died 1831 and daughter, marble tablet, in chancel with seated figure above, holding a medallion, by E. Physick. 2 early C19 inscribed brass tablets. Various early/mid C19 inscribed marble tablets to walls of chancel and nave. Stained glass: fragment of pre C19 glass in south-west chancel window, east window by Wailes 1863, south-east chancel window is also C19. C19 octagonal font. Tablet to rear of nave records rebuilding of c.1842 and increase in seating. A grant was obtained for this work from the Incorporated Society for the enlargment of buildings and repair of Churches. (V.C.H.: Northamptonshire, Vol.3, p.139; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.430).

{2} Church, mostly 13th and 14th centuries, nave and aisles rebuilt 1841/2, vestry rebuilt 1888.

{7} Thrapston has (or had?) the pair to the clock Thomas Cottingham built to keep British time, to replace a German made one which was considered unpatriotic in wartime. Cottingham married the daughter of either Smith or Grace of Thrapston foundry.

{8} The advowson of the church was granted to the Abbey of Bourne by Baldwin son of Gilbert (Wake?) at its foundation in 1138. There was a chantry chapel in the east end of the south aisle.
The burials discovered on the northern part of the manor site in the 1970s would suggest that there may have been a cemetery on a separate site to the north west of the present church in the late Saxon period. It is possible that there was also a church on this site though, unlike many other manors in the county, no priest is referred to in 1086. It is possible that the present church was established on a new site when the castle was constructed, involving a reorganisation of the northern part of the settlement, perhaps also associated with the laying out of the market place.

{13} Undated photo, plus two other photos, also undated, showing part of the Church;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 16/160 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G08 p.76-77 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.430 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.141-42 (unchecked) (Series). SNN10247.

<5> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, 41 p.90 (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<6> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<7> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 1996-2013, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter, vol. 109 p. 7 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN55360.

<8> Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Thrapston (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100460.

<9> DRAWINGS, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN54521.

<10> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.380-81 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<11> Bloxham M.H., 1878, On The Medieval Sepulchral Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.259 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN107097.

<12> Richmond H., 1988, Survey of Northamptonshire Parish Churches (Unpublished Report). SNN1195.

<13> Photographs of buildings in Thrapston (Photographs). SNN113630.

<14> Historic England, St James Church, Thrapston, BF107423 (Archive). SNN115176.

Record last edited

Dec 17 2024 1:00PM