St James

In 1650 the chapel of Wetherby was stated to be of ancient erection, but having no endowment.

It seems that in 1760 an ancient and ruinous chapel which stood on the site of the present Town Hall in the Market Place was pulled down and new one built. Little is known of this earlier chapel, but a Wetherby testator in 1617 bequeathed ‘to the loft buyldeinge of the chappell of Weatherby six inch boardes of two yeardes or more of length’. The chapel was thatched and had an entrance at the west end with a bell over the entrance door. The chapel was rebuilt in 1763 but there is no record of the consecration of it or its predecessor. The later chapel appears to have had galleries. It was demolished in 1845.

The present church was erected on a new site and consecrated on 1 February 1842. The tower arch dates from 1887-8.

The glass of the east window depicting Christ the Good Shepherd, the Last Supper and the Four Evangelists with their symbols, apparently dates from 1877. Early morning sunlight enhances the characters depicted in the scenes. The west window (Christ blessing children) is best viewed on a summer evening with sunlight streaming through the window bringing the colours to light with real poignancy.

The south window of three lights depicts Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. The central light shows the Samaritan helping the wounded man and the adjacent lights show those who passed by on the other side. The north window shows Jesus calling James and John to be ‘fishers of men’, Jesus’ baptism and Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper.

The war memorial consists of a large bronze tablet inscribed with the names of 68 people of the parish who gave their lives in 1914-18. Nearby is a glass case which contains a book in which are inscribed the names of all Wetherby men and women who served in HM Forces and Merchant Navy in the 1939-45 War.