Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a parish church dating to the 15th century, with earlier fabric from around 1220 and 1300. It was altered in the 16th century, and underwent substantial rebuilding of the clearstorey and roof in 1811, with a restoration in 1865-8. The church comprises a west tower, a nave and lower chancel, north and south aisles, a north-east vestry, a south porch with an 18th-century hearse-house, and a south chapel.

The tower has diagonal buttresses, a stair turret topped with a spirelet, and an embattled parapet. It features bell openings with three trefoiled lights and a flat head with a hood, a three-light west window with pointed head and Perpendicular tracery, and a pointed head west doorway. The north aisle’s west window is from the 14th century, with three trefoiled lights under a pointed head and straight-bar tracery. A south aisle window from around 1300 displays cusped intersecting tracery. The north aisle has four bays, separated by buttresses, each with a three-light window with a pointed head and Perpendicular tracery. A molded doorway with a pointed head is situated to the west of the bays. The two-storey vestry, likely dating to the late 16th century, adjoins the east corner of the north aisle; its north wall has two round-headed lights on each floor, while the gable features an octagonal chimney shaft and windows with three lights on the ground floor and two lights above. The clearstorey windows on both sides have three pointed lights under flat heads. The south porch is gabled and features an outer, pointed doorway chamfered in orders. Adjacent to its west side is a gabled hearse-house with a doorway bearing the date 1754 above a round arch and keystone. The south chapel and aisle each have two bays with windows similar to those of the north aisle. The chancel’s east window has five cinquefoiled lights under a pointed head and Perpendicular tracery.

Inside, the five-bay nave arcades have pointed arches chamfered in two orders, probably from the 15th century. The piers are round with capitals, potentially dating to around 1300. The nave roof incorporates bolted king post trusses. Two pointed arches lead to the south chapel, which has a lean-to roof with molded beams and a wallplate bearing a Latin inscription and the date 1529. A piscina with a trefoiled head, likely re-set, is within the south wall, which also displays remnants of wall painting. The pointed and molded chancel arch has a squint on its southern pier, formerly a stone stair. A two-bay north chancel arcade features compound piers and responds from around 1220 with stiff-leaf capitals; the west respond is lower and encased within later masonry. A piscina with a trefoiled head is also present. The pulpit incorporates 17th-century carved woodwork with the date '1646'. Two rows of choir stalls contain medieval woodwork, with carved misericordes.