St James's church is located on the west side of Hanbury Road on what was then the eastern edge of the town. It is a late Georgian hall church transformed into a Victorian Gothic Revival church through considerable alteration and extension approximately fifty years after first building. It is built of coursed, squared limestone with the later work very similar to, but slightly neater than, the original; and Welsh slate roofs which have been rubberised though this coating is now peeling off and the slates slipping (11/1996).Changes in the stonework and the alteration of the windows can clearly be seen in the walls. The church consists of nave, north aisle, chancel and south-west vestry. The five-bay nave stands side-on to the street, its sharply pointed windows with pointed quatrefoils over twin cusped lights. This is the original church, built in 1820 to designs of Watkin George. The Decorated chancel was added by Wyatt & Brandon in 1845, the nave roof heightened in 1875 by local architect Ernest Deacon who added the south aisle in 1876-7. Inside, the open roof with hammerbeams supports cranked collars with kingpost over.

Sources: J.Newman, Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire (2000), p.476; extracts from Cadw Listing description.

RCAHMW, 9 January 2015