Church of St. James, Great Saling, Essex

S. JAMES, GREAT SALING, ESSEX, a church at present in a miserable condition, is to be restored by Mr. Withers. Most of the windows are renewed; a new mortuary chapel and a vestry added, as a north chancel aisle, and a new south-west porch. The new arrangements are good; save that the vestry has no external door, and the mortuary chapel no door at all; the arch, by which it communicates with the chancel, being blocked by the stalls. The harmonium is placed in the nave — which is not a good position, coming as it does between the choir and the congregation. We are rather sorry that Mr. Withers has sacrificed in this instance the stepped brick gables which are a characteristic feature of Essex churches; and the new spire is somewhat insipid. But the restoration was greatly needed, and the new work is generally satisfactory. We like the reredos especially. [Ecclesiologist April 1857 Page 133]