Work begins on stone church

This is the only image purportedly depicting the original stone church of Saint James but it may never have been completed in this form. Built between 1745 and 1753, the original building is described in church records as a stone chapel, measuring 44 feet long and 34 feet wide. The church in this drawing does not have those dimensions. One explanation for this is that it may have been made produced by church members or local contractors as a vision for Saint James and sent to London with an appeal for financial support.

However, in a lithograph of Lancaster dated 1800 the church is depicted with a steeple, added in 1762, similar to the one in the drawing. In whatever form it came to be, the original stone church was demolished in 1819 to make way for the core of the building that exists today.