St James’ Church, Avebury

From Roman remains found at Litttecote and at Mildenhall, east of Marlborough it seems probable that Jesus Christ has been worshipped in this Kennet Valley since the 3rd century A.D. There is no written history to show when a Christian church was first established at Avebury. There has been a Saxon stone church on this site since about 1000 A.D.; before the Norman Conquest and then altered by the Normans.

The oldest part of this building is Anglo Saxon, about 1000 A. D.

1. The Nave was without aisles and two of its original windows are preserved in the Anglo Saxon walling at the west end of the nave. These were unglazed and were closed in bad weather by wooden shutters wedged into a rebate cut into the outer edge of the window. High up in the north wall of the nave are three Anglo Saxon circular windows, probably the upper storey. The ring of holes drilled round them held wattle rods used in the construction of the windows.

2. Aisles were first added in the 12th century. On each side of the nave two low arched openings pierced through the existing walls gave access to the aisles. These openings were swept away when the present arcade was put in in 1812, but the Norman angle-shafts to the responds can be seen in the wall at each end of the arcade. In the 15th century wider aisles were built, the Norman south doorway moved out to its present position and a porch built. At the east end of each aisle is a squint giving a view of the altar. In the North Aisle the west wall contains a 13th century lancet window. The south wall of this aisle was at first the outside wall of the church and the rough area of plaster above the Anglo Saxon window is the original exterior plaster of the Anglo Saxon Church. The wooden box chest is dated 1634. There are some mediaeval tiles on the floor near it and also a few in the south aisle, 13th - 14th century.

3. The wooden balcony in the nave is the 15th century Rood Loft, one of very few which have survived. When removed, probably early in the reign of Elizabeth I, it was carefully hidden behind a lath and plaster covering against the east wall of the nave, and discovered there in 1812 and since repainted. The wooden screen below the loft is Victorian.

4. The tower is 15th century. On its fioor stands the Norman font, first quarter of 12th century. The carvings show two serpents with twisted tails, their heads turned towards the figure of a bishop holding a crozier; popular middle-ages' pictures showed Christ trampling on the dragons of evil and sin.

On the south wall is the funeral hatchment of Lt General Sir Adam Williamson, K.B. of Avebury Manor d. 1798. Appointed Governor of Jamaica 1790. On the north wall is the Royal Arms of King George III 1760-1820.

The stone coffin is 13th-14th century and is one of three found by the south wall of the chancel, probably those of priors of the adjacent Benedictine Priory.

The bells are in regular use, restored in 1981. The oldest bell is the tenor, cast in 1719 by Avebury-born Richard Phelps master of the famous Whitechapel Bell Foundry 1701-1738.

5. The chancel and chancel arch are late 13th century. The choir stalls contain some 17th century woodwork. The altar rails are early 18th century. The chair is mid 17th century.

The tablet on the south wall is to John Truslow of Truslow Manor d.1593 (Truslow Manor lies at the west end of the bridle path). The tablet on the north wall is to Dame Susanna Holford d. 1722. Susanna Holford, widow of Sir Richard Holford of Avebury Manor, left money for the foundation and endowment of a school in Avebury for children whose parents not able to teach them to read'.

6. Set in the east wall of the porch is a fragment of Norman 12th century carved stone. On the outside of the Church Tower can be seen some large stones in the wall. This is an example of Anglo Saxon side-alternative quoining, being the comer stones of what was then the north west comer of the Anglo Saxon nave. Here too, built into the wall is a fragment of Anglo Saxon cross-shaft of an eariier date.

Taken from a leaflet available in the church, some time around 2002.