Listed Building record MDR12294 - St James' Church and almshouses, Spring Bank Road, New Mills

The chapel-of-ease at New Mills, which is dedicated to St James the Less, and the almshouses to which it is attached were erected in 1880 by the late John Mackie Esq., J.P., and Mary his wife, in memory of the parents of the latter. The edifice consists of nave and apsidal chancel, and is in the style of architecture that prevailed in the latter part of the 13th century. In the apse are three lancet windows, filled with stained glass from the studio of Mr Kempe, London. A three-light window, with traceried head, in the south wall, and two large two-light windows in the west wall, are also pictorial. Frescoes by Mr Powell of Leeds illustrating events in the life of Our Lord adorn the north wall. A beautiful marble panel has been placed on the same side by Mrs Mackie, in memory of her late husband. The Ingham Almshouses consist of six handsome cottages of stone, containing a good sitting-room, a bedroom and a small scullery. The houses are divided by a covered porch, with pointed arches resting on circular pillars, with sculptured capitals. In front is a beautifully laid-out piece of garden ground. The church and almshouses occupy two sides of a quadrangular plot of land adjoining Spring Bank. (1) A church and attached almshouses form a composition of 1880 by W Swindon Barber on the north and west sides of a court. The almshouses on the west and north link with the church on the north-east corner, next to the roadway. They are built of stone with green slate roofs. The almshouses are gabled, with mullion and transom windows and doorway openings in the form of a pointed arch, in pairs. The church has lancets at the side and in the hexagonal apse; the western gable with bell cote contains coupled lights with tracery. The windows have dripmoulds with human mask terminals. There is a porch to the road. The interior is of the period and has stained glass. (2)