Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a parish church with origins in the 14th century, and significant alterations in the 15th century. The chancel and aisles were rebuilt in the 19th century by S. S. Teulon. The church is constructed of squared greenstone rubble and random mixed rubble, with limestone dressings and slate roofs.

The building consists of a 15th-century western tower, a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a vestry. The three-stage tower has two string courses, battlemented parapets with plain corner pinnacles, and stepped corner buttresses. The belfry stage features paired trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoils, concave chamfered surrounds, and a hood mould. A 19th-century west window is comprised of three lights with cusped heads, panel tracery, a concave surround, and a moulded hood. Above this is a 19th-century clock housed within a moulded square surround. A stone toilet block is attached to the north side of the tower.

The 19th-century north aisle has a west window of two lights with cusped heads, quatrefoils, and a hood. Other windows in the north wall include a pointed doorway and a three-light window with ogee heads and a cambered arch. Adjacent to the aisle is a 19th-century vestry with a pointed doorway and paired lancets to the north and east walls. The 14th-century nave clerestory has three paired ogee-headed lights with quatrefoils and concave surrounds, mirrored on the south side. The east chancel window consists of three lights with cusped heads and panel tracery. The south wall features two windows with paired cusped lights and panel tracery, along with a three-light window in the west wall. The gabled south porch has a moulded outer arch with pointed cusped side lights, and a semi-circular headed inner doorway with plain mouldings.

Internally, the north arcade has three bays, while the south arcade has four, both dating to the 14th century. They feature octagonal shafts, moulded capitals, and double-chamfered arches. The tall 15th-century pointed tower arch has concave moulded responds and carved capitals with fleurons. The 14th-century double-chamfered chancel arch springs from 19th-century carved corbels.

A particularly notable feature is the unusual late 14th-century carved stone reredos in the north aisle. It comprises a recessed central triangular-headed panel with cusping, and is decorated with fleurons and other motifs. The top of the frame features a crocketed gable containing a trefoil, with broken pinnacles bearing a crucifix. Human head corbels are incorporated into the decoration, along with smaller human heads and figures. A 19th-century vestry door and an ogee-headed niche are located in the chancel. All other fittings, including a carved screen, are 19th or 20th century. The font base is 20th century, but the bowl is likely recut 14th-century work. Near the east end of the nave are two late 18th-century marble wall plaques commemorating the Cracroft Marshall family.