Dating from Norman times, this church will give you a sense of the history of the area. Anston, whose name derives from ‘Anastan’ a solitary stone, is known to have had prehistoric settlements in the area. A Romano-British farmstead and fields were excavated to the south of the church in the 1960s.
There has been a place of worship in Anston since at least 1171 and St James has survived the upheavals of civil war, poverty and sickness. The lovely limestone church you see today dates mostly from the 14th century, with the tower being added in the 15th century. The building has grown over the years to reflect the changing and expanding community and only a few stones, incorporated into the tower, remain of the original building.
Some of the many interesting features that you will see are:
- The tower, which has fragments of Norman stones built into the north wall of the tower’s base. Eight bells are hanging in the tower, six dating from 1871.
- A 14th century effigy. This beautiful and very rare effigy, of a father and his daughter, stood outside the church for many years, but is now sited near the font at the west end of the nave.
- Some of the pillars between the nave and the aisles have holes in them (now filled in) which are thought to have been caused by musket balls during the Civil War of the 1640s.