The Church of St James the Less, Sulgrave, is the Church of England parish church of Sulgrave, a village and civil parish about north of Brackley, Northamptonshire. The present church dates largely from the 13th and 14th centuries and is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. Architecture Sulgrave has had a church since the Anglo-Saxon era, although not on the current site. An earlier stone church is believed to have stood about north of the present one, on higher ground near the windmill. The church on the present site was built in the 13th century, when the Cluniac Priory of St Andrew, Northampton held the advowson. At least some material from the original church was used in the rebuilding. Most notable is a triangular-headed doorway, characteristic of Anglo-Saxon architecture, that has been re-set as the west door of the west tower. This may date from the 10th century. The bell-openings to the top stage of the tower and the trefoiled lancet windows to the ground stage are Early English Gothic features that date it to the 13th century. The tower had a spire, but it collapsed in the 14th century. A record from about 1340 reports the church as "destroyed", and 20 carts being at "Helmydene" (Helmdon, southeast of Sulgrave) to collect stone for its repair. Helmdon stone is a fine freestone and was certainly the best building stone in the area. The work for which Helmdon stone was supplied may therefore have included the south aisle. This was added in the middle of the 14th century and retains all of its original Decorated Gothic windows. The four-bay arcade between the south aisle and the nave is Perpendicular Gothic and therefore somewhat later. Also in the south aisle is a squint to the high altar in the chancel, and a 14th- or 15th-century piscina, both of which were installed when the aisle had a side altar. The squint was blocked after the Reformation but reopened in 1885. The south door is 14th century. Outside it is the south porch, which is 16th-century Elizabethan with a characteristically Tudor four-centred arch. Over it is a datestone with the initials ER and year 1564. Elizabeth I visited Northampton that year so the initials may commemorate her visit. The chancel has two south windows: the more easterly is Decorated Gothic and therefore earlier; the more