The Church of St. James was first constructed in the 12th century with a simple nave and chancel, of which the original chancel arch, north and south doorways of the nave, and corbel table of the chancel survive. In the 13th century the west tower was added. Originally surmounted by a pyramidcal stone-tiled roof on a level with the tops of the surviving belfry windows. This was replaced by the present battlemented and pinnacled structure in the 15th century. The mighty yew tree in the Churchyard is enclosed within a stone plinth, probably in the 16th century. In the south transept, immediately behind the yew tree, is a monument to Sir William Leigh, erected shortly after his death in 1631.
The north transept, [to left of photo] now known as the Sezincote Chapel, was built in 1822-3 as a private chapel for the Sezincote Estate, whose own Church had been "suffered to be demolished" a hundred years previously. It was designed by C R Cockerell, son of S P Cockerell, the architect of Sezincote House. The Sezincote Chapel was refurbished in 1998-9 in memory of Lady Kleinwort.
The Bells are six in number: the Treble [photograph], Second and Fifth cast by Henry Bond & Sons of Burford in 1898, the Tenor by Abel Rudhall [photograph] of Gloucester in 1739, and the Third and Fourth [photograph] by Richard Keene of Woodstock in 1680. The Tenor bears the inscription "A.R.", and the names of Thomas Greyhurst and Isaac Snow, Churchwardens in 1739. The Bells became unsafe in the 1960's and ringing ceased until 1987, when a grant was made from the Trustees of the Cyril Kleinwort Charitable Trust towards their restoration. Sir John Betjeman, whilst staying at Sezincote House in the 1920s, paid tribute to the Bells of Longborough: At six o'clock from Bourton-on-the-Hill The bells rang out above the clumps of oak A lighter peal from Longborough lingered on Moreton-in-Marsh came echoing from the vale... See also: *photograph of the Bellringers in the early 1900s*
	As we exit the churchyard we look back up Church Street, the War Memorial and Coach & Horses at the top, before turning left towards the old Chapel ...