St James' Church, Midhopestones

St James’ Church, Midhopestones is situated in the small rural hamlet of Midhopestones, just within the northern boundary of the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire. Since April 1969 it has been a Grade II* listed building. St James is small church which is often referred to as a chapel, in fact it is situated on Chapel Lane. The church is officially dedicated to James the Less and not James the Greater although there has always been some confusion. Some modern historians and clergy maintain that the church should be dedicated to James the Greater as the scallop shells carved above the church door are the traditional emblem of James the Greater. It is possible that it was re-dedicated to James the Less in the Victorian era because of the smallness of the church. The church is in the Parish of Penistone within the Diocese of Wakefield.

St James’ church was founded by the Barnby family of Barnby Hall, Cawthorne. Thomas de Barnby, vicar of Kirkheaton, became Lord of the Manor of Midhope in 1337 and was succeeded by his nephew Robert in 1354. Robert de Barnby was the probable founder of the church around the year 1360 although other scholars attribute Thomas de Barnby as the founder at a slightly earlier date. The church was built as a Chapel of ease for the main church of the parish of Ecclesfield, St. Marys’, which lay 14 km to the east. The Barnbys’ used St James’ as their private chapel until 1622 when they were forced to sell the entire manor because of financial hardship brought on by fines levied after the English Reformation for hearing Mass and not attending the state church.

The church was owned by Puritans between 1622 and 1690 and they installed a Jacobean pulpit which was high enough for the preacher to see out of the window. The pulpit is the present day church’s most valuable antique. In the second half of the 17th century the chapel fell into disrepair.

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