St James the Greater
Twycross, Leicestershire
The parish church of St James dates from the 14th century with a 15th century tower.
Holy Trinity Church is an early 14th century village church with a 4-bay nave, 3-bay chancel and a tower. It was heavily restored in 1841. There are gargoyles, animal and human faces, on some of the external windows’ arch mouldings. It also features a 19th century ball flower ornamental stone door surround, with faces on the door handles.
The clock was made by Samuel Deacon of Barton in the Beans 1840. Inside has an arch-braced hammer-beam roof over the nave and an arch-braced collar roof over chancel. There are a stone font and a full set of 19th century box pews with poppyheads on the bench ends. The clerk’s box, hexagonal pulpit & lectern are contemporary with the pews.
The church probably sits on the site of an earlier Saxon church, as the village is known to have had a priest by the 1086 Domesday survey, when Comitissa Godeva (Lady Godiva of Coventry fame) was the named overlord of the village. By 1220, Norton church was under the patronage of the Prior and Convent of Belvoir.