St James's Church, Draycot Cerne

St James's Church in Draycot Cerne, Sutton Benger, Wiltshire, England was built between 1260 and 1280.[2] It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade II* listed building,[1] and is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[3] It was declared redundant on 1 June 1994, and was vested in the Trust on 17 May 1995.[4]

St James's Church
Location	Draycot Cerne, Sutton Benger, Wiltshire, England
Coordinates	51.5062°N 2.0949°W / 51.5062; -2.0949
Built	c. 1300
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Church of St James
Designated	20 December 1960[1]
Reference no.	1200500
Location of St James's Church in Wiltshire

The church stands in parkland near the site of Draycot House, a manor house demolished c. 1955.[5]

The name of the church has been changed over the centuries. It was All Saints' in the later 12th century and St. Peter's in the 18th century; it has been St James since the later 19th century.[5] The church has an Early English chancel which is lower than the floor of the 13th-century nave. The two-stage west tower dates from the 16th or 17th century and is supported by diagonal buttresses.[1] The church was altered and restored in the 19th century.[3]

There were wall paintings in the chancel in the 15th and 16th centuries.[5] The interior includes a Gothic pulpit and box pews.[6] There are also Victorian stained glass windows by Ward and Hughes and monuments including a Perpendicular tomb chest and a 13th-century knight's effigy, of either Phillip or John de Cerne.[1] A memorial bust by Joseph Wilton to Sir Robert Long is set on a marble bracket designed by James Wyatt.[7] The gothic painted tomb of Sir Thomas Long is within the church,[8] along with tombs and memorials to members of the Long family.[9] Some of the oldest tombs are to the de Cerne family from the 12th and 13th centuries.[10] Sir Edward de Cerne is commemorated with a monumental brass on his tombstone.[11] Henry of Cerne was the rector of the church in 1304.[5]