Church Of St Helen

SADDINGTON SP 69 SE MAIN STREET (South East Side)

2/80 Church of St. Helen

GV II*

Parish Church. Fabric of C13 to C14, the detail the result of a restoration in 1872-3. Ironstone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings and Welsh slate roofs. West tower nave with clerestory and chancel. Late C13 4 stage west tower: second and third stages are of banded ironstone and limestone. Paired foiled lights to bell chamber. Embattled parapet with gargoyles. West doorway with continuous moulding and 2-light Decorated window above with re-cut tracery. Victorian style doorway in aisle of cobble stone construction, and Victorian tracery in a bland Decorated style to windows. Priests doorway in tall chancel in Decorated style though the 4-light east window is in the Perpendicular style. However the jambs of a medieval window are still visible in the east wall. North doorway is C14: shafts and richly moulded arch, flanked by tall Victorian statues contained in a Victorian gabled porch. Inside, the tall west tower arch has continuous double chamfering. The arcades appear to be late C13: clustered shafts support double chamfered arches. The chancel arch is of 1872/3, short shafts are supported by angels as corbels. Inside, the chancel is almost entirely Victorian in detail but the piscina is C14 with fleurons to the cusped arch, and there is a worn probably C17 alabaster tomb slab with an incised figure. Medieval font: a plain octagonal basin on a chamfered Victorian base.

Listing NGR: SP6581591781