St James' Church, Bramley

The Norman church had a west tower added in 1636, replacing a previous wooden tower.[2] Part of the nave was added by John Soane in 1802.[1][3]

The parish is part of the benefice of Sherfield on Loddon, Stratfield Saye and Hartley Wespall with Stratfield Turgis, Bramley and Little London within the Diocese of Winchester.[4][5]

The flint building has stone dressings and a tiled roof. The walls are supported by buttresses. The south porch and three-stage tower are of red brickwork. Some of the windows in the north wall remain from the original Norman structure.[1]

The interior includes a 13th-century piscina while the screen, benches, pulpit and communion rail are from the 16th to 18th centuries.[1]

Wall painting on the south wall depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket

In the 1870s, Charles Eddy, vicar of the church, uncovered a large number of wall paintings and painted scriptural texts dating to the 13th through 16th centuries which had been whitewashed over in 1550–1551 during the Reformation.[6] The earliest paintings are on the south wall, and depict a series of martyrdoms, the best preserved being a depiction of the murder of Thomas Becket by four knights in 1170. On the north wall is 16th-century depiction of St Christopher which bears a remarkable likeness to contemporary portraits of King Henry VIII. The north wall also has paintings of scriptural texts (John 3:5, Psalm 26 verse 6, and Psalm 95), as well as two consecration crosses. There are also elaborate decorative painted designs in the chancel, around the north and south windows, and on the east wall, with paintings of saints on either side of the east window.[7]

Tomb of Sir Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire (1730-1777)

The Brocas chapel is an aisle added to the church of St James by the architect John Soane around 1800.[1] This chapel was built to house the tomb of Bernard Brocas of Beaurepaire, which had previously been outside, exposed to the weather. The white marble tomb was the work of John Bacon the Elder.[8] Brocas, who died 8 November 1777, was Lord of Beaurepaire, Hampshire and a magistrate and colonel of the militia. He was a descendant of Bernard Brocas, who was executed in 1400, the son of the MP Bernard Brocas, died 1395, an Anglo-Gascon family of the 13th and 14th centuries.

• List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells

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• Official website