St James's Church, Kingston (Isle of Purbeck)

From the 12th century, Kingston was a chapelry of nearby Corfe Castle, served by a chapel of ease in the east of the village. In 1833, John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, demolished the old chapel and rebuilt it, at his own expense, on the same site to become the parish church. The new chapel, dedicated to St James, was designed in the Gothic Revival style by George Stanley Repton and followed the plan of the original chapel. This was a massive sum of money for such a tiny village, and according to the National Archives, equivalent to more than £4.3 million in 2017. The church remained as a private chapel for the Eldon estate until 1921, when the now Lord Eldon conveyed the entire chapel to the…

Entering the nave from the narthex, it is formed of four bays, aisled, with a clerestory above. The nave arcades are decorated with dog-tooth carvings, with minor differences between those on the south and north arcades, and stiff-leaf capitals. The nave aisle windows depict biblical figures and saints, which are attributed to Clayton and Bell. which was designed by Street and executed by Clayton and Bell.