St James the Less, Pockthorpe (also once known as St James, Cowgate or St. James at Barr-gates) is a redundant church located just inside the medieval city of Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Venue: St James the Less, Pockthorpe
Town: Norwich, GB

St James the Less, Pockthorpe (also once known as St James, Cowgate or St. James at Barr-gates) is a redundant church located just inside the medieval city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. First recorded in 1180, the church served a small city parish; the area it served was greatly expanded during the English Reformation to include both the hamlet of Pockthorpe (just outside the walls) and an adjoining part of Mousehold Heath. The current church may have replaced an earlier 11th- or 12th-century building. The church was restored in 1885. It was placed in the care of the Norwich Historic Churches Trust in 1973. It became a shelter for the homeless before becoming the home of the Norwich Puppet Theatre, which opened in 1980. The church's architectural style is Perpendicular Gothic. It was built using flint, freestone, and brick. The nave is separated by piers that assist in supporting the brick-topped tower, which, being built within the church and not at the end of the nave, causes the west end to be partitioned. Many of St James's original interior fixtures and fittings, including its medieval baptismal font, a set of 15th-century rood screen panels, and glass roundels fitted when the church was re-glazed, are now at nearby St Mary Magdalene, Norwich, which in 1972 became the church for the parish after St James was closed as a place of worship. St James the Less possibly replaced an earlier building-archaeologists have found a clay boundary wall, possibly built in the 11th or 12th centuries, under the foundations of the present building. As with most of the medieval churches of Norwich, little of the building dating from the middle medieval period or earlier has survived. The church, which was also previously known as St James, Cowgate, was first recorded in 1180. It is probably the church mentioned in the Domesday Book as "the church of Letha". The church is more correctly called St James the Great & St James the Less, as it was originally dedicated to both saints. A