Houseling people in 1548 were 400.
The church measures 75 feet in length, 45 feet in breadth, and 40 feet in height. There are two side-aisles separated from the nave by Ionic columns, six on either side, with a clerestory above. This is interrupted at the centre, and three eastern and three western columns each bear half of it, thus presenting a cruciform appearance. The tower, measuring 20 feet square at the base, rises at the west, surmounted by a dome, lantern, ball finial, and vane; the total height is 125 feet. The transitions are softened by vases and urns. Above the door projects a bracket clock topped by the grotesque figure of St. James in pilgrim’s garb, locally known as “old Jimmy Garlick.” Much of the woodwork in the interior was brought from St. Michael, Queenhithe, when that church was pulled down.
Chantries were founded here: By John Whitthorn, of three chaplains—one Thomas Haverbergh, chaplain, exchanges it with William Gedelston, rector of Ongar ad Castrum, Essex, July 31, 1381; by William Hawye, at the Altar of St Katharine, whose endowment fetched £12 : 18 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Dale was priest; by John de Oxenford, citizen and vintner, which was augmented by Roger de Fordham, whose will is dated next after the Feast of St. Barnabas, 1349; by Thomas Lincoln and Richard Lyon in 1548, when John Borell was chaplain; by Thomas Bodynge, whose endowment yielded £22 : 10s. in 1548.
Richard Rothing, the reputed founder of this church, was buried here. So also were the following: Walter Nele, vintner, sheriff in 1337; John Oxenford, vintner, mayor in 1341; John Wroth, fishmonger, mayor in 1360; John Bromer, fishmonger, alderman in 1474; William Venor, grocer, mayor in 1389; William Moor, vintner, mayor in 1395; Robert Chichele, grocer, mayor in 1421; James Spencer, vintner, mayor in 1527; Richard Lyons, sheriff in 1374, beheaded by Wat Tyler; Richard Platt, brewer, founder of a free school and almshouses in Hertfordshire. There were tombs of importance: especially curious were those of Richard Lyons and the Countess of Worcester, which had either great brasses or recumbent effigies; also the tombs of Sir George Stanley, K.G., and his first wife; John Stanley; Lord Strange, 1503; and the Countess of Huntingdon. The church owned many precious things: an inventory of its jewels in 1449 is still preserved at Westminster Abbey.
There was a charity school in Maiden Lane, which by the subscription of the whole ward maintained fifty boys.
Arthur Bulkely (died 1553), Bishop of Bangor, was rector here. Also Charles Booth, Bishop of Hereford, 1516.
Adjoining to the church on the south side stood a house called “The Commons”: it had been given by one Thomas Kente for keeping his anniversary in the church. Here dwelt the chantry priests, who held the tenure. When the chantries were suppressed by Edward VI. “The Commons” was valued at 53s. 4d. a year: no fewer than nine “incumbents,” who had life interests in the chantry property of the parish, received pensions under Mary in 1555-1556. The total chantry property fetched £2551 : 3s. In the church was founded a Guild or Fraternity of St. James in 1375: it was practically a religious Benefit Society: the members, men and women, were sworn together for the amendment of their lives: on one Sunday in the year they held an annual feast: they paid entrance fees and periodical subscriptions. A member of seven years’ standing was eligible for a sickness or old age allowance of fourteen-pence a week, and in case of false imprisonment a needy member would be granted a sum of thirteen-pence a week. In the year 1566 the church was repaired. The parish bought the rood-loft which had been taken in Protestant propriety from St. Martin Vintry; the woodwork was utilised for their new fittings. Edmund Chapman, the Queen’s joiner, carried out the work. He was afterwards buried in the church, and his monument narrated that:
Fine pews within this church he made,
And with his Arms support
The table and the seats in choir