The Church of St James, Stenner Lane, Didsbury, Manchester is an ancient Anglican church of medieval origins with significant subsequent alterations in the 17th and mid-19th centuries.[1] The church was designated a Grade II* listed building on 25 February 1952.[2]
The original chapel is believed to have been a 13th-century oratory. Rebuilding took place in the early seventeenth century, including the "dumpy" tower.[1] The pinnacles and loops which surmount the tower are a particular feature, dating from 1801.[1] The Mosley family, local magnates, were the benefactors. It became the parish church of Didsbury in 1850.[1] The nave was constructed in 1855, the chancel in 1871 and the east half of the south aisle in 1895.[2] The church is of red sandstone with slate roofs.
Pevsner found the interior "odd, [with] early seventeenth century fabric, but later additions and alterations [have] changed its character".[1] The 18th-centuries galleries, themselves a later addition, have been removed and substantial reconstruction took place both in the 1850s and 1890s.[1] The stained glass is all 19th century.[1] The church contains some impressive funerary monuments, particularly of the Mosley family. A "good early C17 wall monument in Renaissance style, [...] a 3-bay Ionic colonnade surmounted by a central Corinthian architrave with cresting, with kneeling figures in each part" commemorates Ralph Mosley, who died in 1616.[2] Sir Nicholas Mosley, the builder of Hough End Hall, is shown kneeling, "dressed in the robes of the Lord Mayor of London (1599)".[1] The Mosley heiress, Ann, Lady Bland, the founder of St Ann's Church, Manchester, is also represented.[1]