St James' Church, Great Ormside

The church is constructed in sandstone rubble.[6] The roofs are slated on the south side, and covered in stone flags on the north. Its plan consists of a nave with a porch to the south and the Hilton Chapel to the north, a chancel wider than the nave, a north vestry, and a west tower.[2] The nave measures 30 feet (9.1 m) by 16 feet (4.9 m), and the chancel 26 feet 6 inches (8.1 m) by 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m). The tower is about 11 feet (3.4 m) square.[6] The basic architectural style is Norman.[1] The tower is in three stages, with large angular buttresses.[2] It is defensive in nature, with no external doorway, three tiers of narrow lancet windows on the west and south sides, and without windows on the north side. The height of the tower has been reduced, with a few corbels of the former parapet remaining. It is surmounted by a pitched roof.[3] On the south side of the church is a gabled porch, to the east of which is the original doorway, now partly blocked and with an inserted window.[2] The original doorway is tall and narrow, with a round-arched head, and a blank tympanum.[3] To the right of this are a round-headed window and a 14th-century two-light mullioned window. In the south wall of the chancel are three windows, with a doorway below the central window. The east window has three lights.[2] The windows in the Hilton Chapel are round-headed.[3]

Inside the church is a tall, narrow, round-headed doorway leading into the tower, and an upper doorway, the latter being another defensive feature.[3] Inside the tower is a basement and two internal floors. It contains two bells, but only one can be used.[1] Between the nave and the chapel is a two-bay Norman arcade with round arches. In the chapel is a coat of arms dated 1723. In the north wall between the chapel and the chancel is a 14th-century hagioscope. The south wall of the chancel contains a combined aumbry and piscina in two recesses with semicircular heads.[2] The font is Norman, and consists of a square bowl on a 19th-century base.[2][3]