About
St James' history and the Church today
St James’ Church, Cameley, is a Grade I listed building situated in the Cam Valley. It stands outside the centre of the village that relocated to Temple Cloud in the eighteenth century.
The building originally dates from the twelfth century, and some of this structure is still visible today. For example, the south doorway with its transitional arch and the twelfth-century font. A tower was added in the fifteenth century and a porch in 1620. The chancel has a late nineteenth-century open-rafter roof, and there is a timber west gallery dating from 1711 along the south internal wall.
Many church wall paintings in England were removed after the Reformation, as they were considered an unnecessary distraction for worshippers. The Puritans of the seventeenth century also strongly disapproved of such adornments, and it is, therefore, remarkable that St James’ Church still retains so many fragments of the wall paintings from such a volatile period of history. Even the Victorians largely left the Church alone, and St James’ stands today as it surely would have done hundreds of years ago.
In 1976, St James’ Church, Cameley, was declared pastorally redundant, and in 1981 it was vested to The Churches Conservation Trust. Six services are held each year, conducted by the local rector, as well as occasional christenings, weddings and funerals. The group of Friends was formed to care for the Church and raise money for its upkeep, and volunteers aim to open the Church every day.
The conservation project
The wall paintings at St James’ now urgently require conservation work, as they have been largely untreated since they were first uncovered. This work will involve stabilising areas of plaster and securing fragile exposed areas of paint. Layers of limewash, which are obscuring some of the paintings, will be safely removed. No attempt will be made to reconstruct any of the paintings, as this would remove their authenticity.
In the spring of 2024, the Friends of St James’ Cameley and The Churches Conservation Trust commissioned a conservation specialist to undertake a survey of the paintings, and a report was completed in June 2024.
The total cost of the project has been estimated at £35,000, and the Friends wish to begin the work as soon as possible because of the rapidly declining state of the paintings. They are now seeking to approach various charitable trusts in order to fund this vital conservation work.
The current group of Friends must ensure these precious paintings, which have educated worshippers and visitors for centuries, will continue to do so for present and future generations.
