A church was recorded on the present site in around 1175. We have seen the foundations of this church during archaeological excavations inside the present church. The nave (main body) of the church was rebuilt on these foundations in the fifteenth century – so how we operate today is partly determined by what happened almost nine hundred years ago! Since then, various parts of the church have been extended and rebuilt, right up to the present day.
However, our main heritage is the continued Christian worship on this site for all that time, something we will do our best to pass on to future generations.
We have many documents put together by our congregration detailing the history of St James Church. Click on the links below to view them.
A Window on St James Taunton
A guide to our windows and what they can tell us
Changing Times Booklet
A journey of change at St James Church
Guide and History
A detailed Guide and History of St James Church.
Church History in pictures
A pictorial presentation of the history of St James Church. This is a PDF file of a slideshow we prepared a few years ago.
Memorials
A list and transcriptions of all the Memorials in St James Church: grave markers, wall tablets, inscriptions on various items, records from older documents of items no longer in existence. All indexed by surname in one handy PDF file.
World War I Memorial Project
Our World War I memorial project contains biographies of all the people recorded on our war memorial.
World War II Memorial Project
We are starting to research the people on the WW II section of our war memorial. Some short biographical details are here.
Can you help fill in the blanks or tell us more?
The Organ
A short guide to the organ (prior to its refurbishment in 2018.
We will produce a more detailed guide in due course, but in the meantime you can get details from the National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR)