Sewards End, originally named after Sigesward, food taster to Geoffrey de Mandeville is located a couple of miles due east of Saffron Walden. By the early 16th century, it was known as Sewers End. The village has a long association with a monastery right up to the Act of Reformation, when the monastery was destroyed without trace. Prior to that, high rents imposed by the monks meant the population of Sewards End (which reached 400 before the Black Death reduced it to just 100).
The original church room was built in 1847 on land provided by Thomas Westrope Gayton, a local landowner, under The Church Building Act and by funds provided by general subscription. The first service was an evening service held on the 4th November 1847. The room was also used for a school, originally known as Sewers End Chapel School but latterly as Sewards End Church of England Primary School. At the outset the number of children attending was about 70. In 1870 the building was enlarged by an extension to the south which became the church. The school continued in the original northern room but latterly an infants' class was held in the church with the chancel being curtained off and with the pews moved. The school closed in 1947.
The church is a chapel of ease of St Mary's Church, Saffron Walden. The church seats about 40 people but that number is increased to100 when the partitions shutting off the northern room are removed. Additional seats are provided occasionally when required.
The later part of the building is in a lancet style with a polygonal apse and a belfry with flèche. The architects and builders of both parts of the building are unknown. The churchyard is gravelled and there is no graveyard. In 1940 an air raid shelter was built in the playground/churchyard. The structure remains but the land on which it stands has been sold.
The church shares its ministers with St Mary's Church in Saffron Walden, with services fortnightly.
[Modified from Wikipedia and http://www.stmaryssaffronwalden.org/StJames/history.htm]
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