Church Of St Helen

Church of St Helen

Parish church on Manor Road in Bishop Auckland. The building dates from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with the roof rebuilt in the 15th century. The porch and schoolroom above date to the 15th century, though these were rebuilt in 1866.

The exterior is constructed of rubble with stone quoins and ashlar dressings. The plan comprises a chancel with a north vestry and south organ chamber, an aisled nave, and a south porch.

The chancel has a pointed east window with bar tracery to three lancet lights and a 19th-century dripmould, flanked by wide quoins beneath a low-pitched roof. On the south side are trefoil-headed lights to a small two-light window, three two-light windows in the south chancel aisle (the westernmost being higher than the others), and an east lancet. A renewed two-light south nave window stands west of the porch.

The north nave elevation features two massive buttresses, a single lancet, and a chamfered pointed door. The clerestory windows contain two arched lights except at the west where there is a single light, with battlemented parapets above. The two-storey 19th-century porch has a 20th-century door set within a double chamfered round arch with dripmould, a lancet to the left of the door, and paired trefoil-headed lights above with a battlemented parapet. The west return of the porch has a single light on the first floor beneath a corbelled parapet. The porch door itself consists of wide boards, probably dating to the 15th century, set in a chamfered pointed arch.

The west elevation displays stepped buttresses flanking three lancets beneath a single dripmould, pent aisle roofs, and a two-arched bellcote.

The interior retains a 15th-century roof with side and ridge purlins, though the rafters have been renewed. The east window has a shouldered rear arch. The chancel arcades comprise paired pointed arches with recessed chamfers on octagonal piers. The north arcade piers feature foliage and a fir-cone motif, a primitive version of the well-carved cone found at Finchale Priory in Durham, and similar leaf carving appears on the north chancel capital. The south arcade displays fleur-de-lys and modified nailhead ornament. On the south arcade's face towards the chancel are two spheres, one cross-hatched and the other with multiple irregular circles, possibly representing the sun and moon as found in medieval crucifixion scenes. The chancel arch is pointed with two orders on a restored keeled shaft.

The two easternmost bays of the nave arcades date to the 12th century. The north arcade features a round pier with a moulded base on an octagonal plinth broached to a square base, and an enriched waterleaf capital, with keeled shafts to the responds. The arches have two orders of chamfers with stops and a hood mould. The south arcade has a round pier with a moulded round base and bell capital, with chamfers that are not stopped and keeled shafts to the responds (restored at the east end and truncated at the west). The arches are similar to the north arcade but with a nutmeg hood mould. The third bay has chamfered pointed arches on east piers formed from sections of the original west wall, with broach stops to the chamfers and fillets to the shafts of the responds. The south aisle wall features cantilevered stone slab steps, originally leading to a room over the porch.

The chancel contains a damaged piscina with a plain round chamfered arch. A deep circular plain bowl stone font on a wide pedestal stands beside the south door, possibly dating to the late 12th century. Marks beneath the bowl indicate where four shafts were formerly set, as shown in Billings' historical illustration.

The fittings include 19th-century nave pews. The choir pews incorporate some 17th-century tracery, balustrades, and cresting in their backs. The organ screen likewise incorporates 17th-century carving. A wood poor box attached to the south arcade dates to the 17th or 18th century and bears a painted inscription. Fragments of red paint on the north aisle wall appear to be non-pictorial.

The memorials include a Frosterley limestone grave cover in the north aisle in medieval style with an incised cross and sword. A brass indent dating to around 1470 is partly obscured by the altar steps in the chancel, showing parents and six children. A brass on the north aisle wall was set up or moved in 1647 to Ralph Dalton, Armiger, who held office under Bishop Tunstall and died in 1558, and his son Robert, who was buried at St Martin, Ludgate, London on 10 February 1560.

The stained glass includes an east window dedicated to Reverend Matthew Chester (died 1871) featuring medieval-style Saints Cuthbert and Helen flanking the Risen Christ. Grisaille windows appear in the north chancel chapel. North and east windows commemorate the 1914–1918 war. The east window in the south aisle, of very high quality, is dedicated to Emma White (died 1920) and depicts Saints Hilda and Aidan. The west window honours W.B. Kilburn (died 1886) and is executed in Renaissance style with an architectural setting.