The chancel
of St James, with the organ on the left. There was a large scale restoration
of the church in 1856, when the present pews and choir stalls were
put in. Before then there were no choir stalls or priest's desk in
the chancel. The front of the church was filled with two large pews.
Two, in the chancel, went with the Manor. No less than four belonged
to Purston, one to Charlton Lodge, one to Astrop (between Newbottle
and Kings Sutton), one to the vicarage, and two more at the back to
Charlton farmers. The rest were open benches, some reserved for servants
of the big house, the rest free.
The new
pews were badly infested by woodworm, which was brought under control
in the late 1990s. The same could not be said of the roof timbers
which were in soft wood and by the 1970s were in a perilous condition,
despite possibly only dating from the 1856 restoration.
In 1974
the parish had raised enough money to re-roof the chancel with new
oak timbers, and in 1984 with the help of a 50 per cent grant from
the Department of the Environment, the whole of the rest of the church
was similarly re-roofed. The architect, Mr John Morris, was awarded
the King of Prussia's Medal for this work, which is very fine.
