St. James the Less is in the Hampshire linear village of Litchfield and closely bypassed by the A34 between Newbury and Whitchurch, which follows the course of the former Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway. Litchfield railway station, which closed in 1960, was on this line.
Norman, transitional, seventeenth century and restored 1874. Single-cell nave and chancel with a north aisle, south porch and bell turret of the restoration date. The arcade has pointed arches on rectangular piers with chamfers and plinth; the arches of the (former) south aisle are visible in the infill walling (showing a round column with a scalloped cap). The chancel has a high (Norman) and low window on each side, the nave and aisle windows being modern lancets (grouped in the north aisle). The nave is separated from the chancel by a wooden screen (dated 1655) with slender arcading between the main frames, designed to be fixed to medieval stone bracket on each side; old and badly worn font.
Externally, there is a plain tile roof, a western turret with a small broad spire. The walling is flint with stone dressings. A plaque on the porch gable is dated 1875.
The above coordinates are for the Lych gate. You will need to bring your own pen.
At the Lych gate make a note of the date May 25th (ABCD) and number of people (E) mentioned on the plaque.
Continuing towards the church entrance count how many wooden upright posts there are on the left hand side as you approach (FG).
In the entrance porch the number of windows (H), number of green glass panels in each window (J) and finally the number of plain glass panels in each window (K).
The cache can be found at N 51° 16.(K+H) C A W001° 20.(F+A) E (J-K)
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
To view the church micro stats page, please click here