The church contains four listed 18th and 19th century marble wall memorials, with the earliest commemorating the death of the Reverend William Alsop in 1750. In the churchyard there are nine listed chest tombs which flank the path to the church door. It had been clear for a number of years that they were deteriorating with some ‘at risk’ and the Quinquennial Report in November 2007 confirmed the need for action.

The PCC, with the advice of the church architect, decided to initiate a project to conserve the memorials and tombs. In addition they felt that the project should be extended to to provide access to the heritage through an archival and historical record, links to local schools and groups and a dedicated website to record progress. The original stjamesmonuments website was created for that purpose.

A project team of mostly volunteers was put together and research into the families commemorated on the memorials and tombs began.