St James' Church, Chignal St James

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Former parish church of St James St. James; the parish church of Chignall St. James - geograph.org.uk - 765071.jpg
Former parish church of St James

St James' Church, Chignal St James is a former parish church in Chignal St James in Essex, England.

Chignal St James village in United Kingdom

Chignal St James is a village in Essex, England. The village is part of the civil parish of Chignall, and is situated 3½ miles northwest by west from the county town of Chelmsford. Population of Chignal St James is about 250.

The building has a 13th or 14th century nave with flint rubble walls including some freestone and Roman brick fragments, limestone and brick dressings and a tiled roof. The east and south walls of its chancel seem to have been rebuilt and a stairway to a rood loft added, both in the early 16th century, though the building has never had a chancel arch. It was restored in the 19th century and its north porch is modern. [1]

Nave main body of a church

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term 'nave' is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

A freestone is a stone used in masonry for molding, tracery and other replication work required to be worked with the chisel. Freestone, so named because it can be freely cut in any direction, must be fine-grained, uniform and soft enough to be cut easily without shattering or splitting. Some sources, including numerous nineteenth century dictionaries, say that the stone has no grain, but this is incorrect. Oolitic stones are generally used, although in some countries soft sandstones are used; in some churches an indurated chalk called clunch is employed for internal lining and for carving. Some believe that freemason originally meant one who is capable of carving freestone.

Roman brick A style of brick used in Ancient Roman architecture

Roman brick can refer either to a type of brick used in Ancient Roman architecture and spread by the Romans to the lands they conquered; or to a modern type inspired by the ancient prototypes. In both cases, it characteristically has longer and flatter dimensions than those of standard modern bricks.

The church was declared redundant on 18 March 1981. It was converted to a private dwelling in 1989 by Patrick Lorimer. [2] A garage was added in 2008 following an archaeological dig. [3]

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References

  1. 'Chignall', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 2, Central and South west (London, 1921), pp. 44-46
  2. Essex Churches - Chignal St James
  3. Church of St James, Chignal St James, Essex - Archaeological Monitoring and Recording, 2008

Coordinates: 51°45′39″N0°25′04″E / 51.7608°N 0.4178°E / 51.7608; 0.4178

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position and two or three of the numbers represent a horizontal position; alternatively, a geographic position may be expressed in a combined three-dimensional Cartesian vector. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation. To specify a location on a plane requires a map projection.