Of the ancient tombs and monumental brasses which abounded in the old edifice, none are preserved in the present structure, which contains no memorial worthy of note, with the exception of a tablet to Chief Justice Jones, and one to the late Rev. R. Scott, B.D.
The parish comprises only a small part of the town, but contains many insulated portions of the neighbourhood.
Strong foundations of red stone are extensively visible in the houses and walls on the north-west side of the church yard, which may possibly be the remains of the Saxon college.
Immediately adjoining, at the top of the Double Butcher Bow, is a lofty timber house, conjectured to have been
THE GUILD HOUSE OF THE FRATERNITY OF THE HOLY CROSS,
which anciently existed in the church of St. Alkmund.
This curious tenement, now occupied as several dwellings, forms two sides of a square, and with the exception of its square windows, entirely of Gothic architecture of the fifteenth century.
The projecting stories are supported by elegant springers, enriched like the principal timbers, with carvings of small pointed arches, with trefoil and other ornaments. A cloister of obtusely pointed wooden arches, overspread with rich carvings and delicate mouldings, runs along the ground-story of the front.
of whose early foundation in the Saxon times, we possess no particulars. According to Domesday, it held before the Conquest half a hide of land in the city. It was a rectory and royal free chapel with a peculiar jurisdiction, and appears to have been annexed, at a very early period, to the chapel of St. Michael, in the castle. In 1410 the rectory was granted, amongst other things, by Henry IV., to augment his new foundation of Battlefield College, and thenceforth this living became a mere stipendiary curacy. On the dissolution of that college, St. Julian’s was granted by the crown, in 3rd Edward VI. to John Capper and Richard Trevor, and after numerous subsequent transfers, passed into the family of Prince, from whom it has descended to the present patron, the Earl of Tankerville.
The parish comprehends the Wyle, the Wyle Cop, and under the Wyle, and considerable disjointed portions extending wide into the country.
The present church, erected in 1749, on the site of an ancient irregular structure which had become ruinous, is an oblong Grecian building of brick and stone. The interior is handsome and conveniently fitted up. Four Doric pillars on each side of the nave support the ceiling, which is curved and decorated with considerable effect with carved foliated bosses, preserved from the beams of the old church. Over the side aisles, and at the west end, are commodious galleries, in the latter of which is an organ by Fleetwood and Bucer, erected by subscription in 1834. In the central light of the large Venetian window in the chancel, is a figure of St. James in ancient stained glass; and in the side lights are the royal arms, and those of Lichfield and Coventry impaling Cornwallis. The galleries on the north and south are lighted by large circular-headed windows, containing the arms of Queen Elizabeth, the town, and the families of Bowdler, Prynce, and Bennett.