St. James, Kingston, Dorset

Description

The church of St. James, erected during the period 1874 to 1880, at the sole cost of the Earl of Eldon, is a cruciform building of stone, in the Early English style, from designs by the late George E. Street esq. R.A., consisting of apsidal chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, west porch and a lofty central tower containing 8 bells: the chancel has a stone-groined roof, treble sedilia and a piscina of Purbeck marble: the screen, also of Purbeck marble, is surmounted by elaborate open wrought iron work: the pulpit is of elaborately wrought iron work mounted upon a pedestal of Purbeck stone: all the windows, including a large rose window at the weat end, are stained: there are two rolls of honour in the church erected in memory of those parishioners who served and those who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: there are 300 sittings.

The old church of St. James, still standing and in good preservation, is a cruciform edifice of stone, in the Perpendicular atyle, and has an embattled northwestern tower with pinnacles, containing one bell, and there are two stained windows; it is now used as a village hall.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1877. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).