Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

St. James the Greater Church (Birstall)

St. James the Greater is the parish church of Birstall, a village to the North of Leicester by the River Soar and the canal.

It is an old church, whose ironstone tower dates back to the 13th century. Even older, though, is an Anglo-Saxon window with an interlace pattern, and what is known as a bone hole, which might well be the remains of an Anglo-Saxon crypt.

There is also a wall sculpture, dating apparently from the Danish period, of an unidentified creature, which has come to known as “The Beast of Birstall”.

In common with many mediaeval churches, this one was modernised in the mid 19th century, in this instance by George Gilbert Scott.

St. James the Greater is in Church Hill, in the oldest part of the village, accompanied by some old cottages.

It is used as the starting point for some of Colin Crosby’s Guided Walks.