St James Garlickhythe - Interior

Interior

The church interior at 40 feet, is the highest of any Wren church. As it was originally surrounded by other buildings, Wren created tall main windows, as well as clerestory windows. The largest window of all was in the East, filling the arched alcove. Early in the 19th century, this was found to be weakening the wall and so was filled in. In 1815, the painting of the Ascension by Andrew Geddes was installed above the reredos in the place previously occupied by the window.

When built, the main entrance was in the middle of the north wall. This, too, has now been filled in. The church has a nave and two narrow aisles and is of five bays. There are two rows of five Ionic columns and two semi-columns, running from West to East. The columns support an entablature, which is broken in the middle and turned to the outside walls, effectively forming transepts. The columns are evenly spaced, except for those in the middle. With the original round-headed windows in the centre (now replaced by round windows), this would have given St. James a strong North-South axis. The cross-axial design was a conceit also used by Wren in St Magnus the Martyr and St Martin Ludgate. Subsequent rearrangement has made this less apparent.

The church was much renovated by the Victorians, most significantly by Basil Champneys in 1866. Their legacy, including stained glass windows, has been removed in the post-World War II renovation.

The chancel to the east is flanked by pilasters, and is slightly narrower than the nave, the ratio of the width being 1/3 chancel and 1/6 each for the aisles. Unlike the rest of the church, which has a flat ceiling, it has a barrel vault.

To the west is a gallery, erected in 1714 and supported by iron columns. It supports the original organ case of 1719 by Father Smith, decorated with trumpeting cherubs and palm trees. It is surmounted by a scallop shell.

The crystal chandelier, a gift from the Glass Sellers' Company, is a replica of that destroyed by the crashing crane in 1991 and is based on an 18th century original hanging in Wren’s Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

The reredos is original, with Corinthian columns flanking a Decalogue and supporting an entablature. The pediment was removed in 1815 to accommodate the painting. Also original are the communion table, with doves carved on the legs and the communion rail. And the churchwardens’ pews with iron hat stands. The font was made by the church’s mason, Christopher Kempster, and has an ogee cover.

In 1876, the parish was combined with that of St. Michael Queenhithe – a nearby Wren church, and St James received much of the furnishings. From St Michael’s are the pulpit, with a tester and twisted balusters, as well as a wig peg for the preacher. A Stuart coat of arms on the west gallery and a sword rest also come from St Michael’s, as do two grand doorways, now used as screens.

No longer on display is a well preserved mummy of an older man, known as ‘Jimmy Garlick’. His body, embalmed, was discovered in the vaults in 1855. Analysis by the British Museum at one time had postulated that he was an adolescent who died at the turn of the 18th century. The body used to be on display in a glass cabinet, but has been closed to public view. In 2004, Jimmy Garlick featured in the television Discovery documentary series ‘Mummy Autopsy’ which used modern analytical techniques including carbon dating and x-ray analysis, establishing that he died between 1641 and 1801 and that he suffered from osteo-arthritis, a disease that afflicts older people. Physical examination by the Discovery team showed that the mummy appeared to be balding and suffered tooth decay at the time of death, both consistent with an older person. The mummy now sits in the tower in a newly made case.