Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a Grade II listed building located on the north side of Dearne High Street in Thurnscoe. The tower was built in 1729, while the nave dates from 1887, with some Gothic fragments present. The tower is constructed of limestone ashlar, and the 19th-century work features rock-faced sandstone, with red tile roofs and stone slates on the chancel.

The church has a west tower, a four-bay nave with a south porch, and a lower two-bay chancel that includes a separately-roofed south chapel. The tower features a plinth, rusticated quoins, and a band at each stage. It has a round-headed west window with sill blocks, an architrave, moulded imposts, and a keystone, within which is set back a Decorated three-light window. The second stage has a blind keyed oculus, with similar louvred openings on each side. The bell openings are also louvred and surrounded like the west window. The tower cornice breaks forward at the corners, leading to a parapet with moulded coping.

The nave has a chamfered plinth and a porch at the first bay. There is a central offset buttress, with a pair of lancets to the left featuring a shared hoodmould, and two similar paired lights to the right. The eaves have a chamfered band, with moulded kneelers and ashlar gable copings. The south chapel is set forward and has central and angle buttresses, with windows similar to those in the nave but featuring cusped lights and animals carved on the hoodmould stops. The east window consists of three cusped lancets, with the central light taller and linked hoodmoulds.

Inside, there is a narrow single-chamfered tower arch. The nave windows have inner surrounds with detached octagonal colonnettes between the cusped-headed openings, topped with quatrefoils. The chancel includes a sunken chantry chapel, now serving as a vestry, which has a two-bay arcade with a cylindrical column, a carved capital, and responds, along with a hoodmould on the easternmost arch featuring carved head stops. Fragments of medieval work are incorporated into the chapel walls. An attractive window dedicated to St. Cecilia, dated 1885, is located at the north-east end of the chancel.

The church also features an unusual 18th-century font, which has a wooden bowl with a gadrooned base and an acanthus-carved cover set on a short cylindrical stone column. The rood screen is in the Gothic style, likely from the 19th century, but may include earlier work, particularly the well-carved figures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and St. John.