Church of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a parish church dating back to the early 13th century, with early 14th-century elements and a substantial rebuilding in 1860. It is constructed of coursed ironstone rubble with ironstone ashlar detailing, some red brick, and slate roofs with stone coped gables. The church includes a west tower incorporating a west porch, a nave with a south baptistry, and a rectangular chancel with a north vestry.

The 19th-century west tower has an ashlar front and rubble north and south walls. The west doorway incorporates a bay from an early 13th-century arcade, flanked by a cluster of three large shafts with abaci, plain capitals, a moulded and double-chamfered pointed arch, and a single lancet window above. The interior porch features an early 13th-century west doorway with a pointed arch, slight chamfer, hoodmould, moulded imposts, chamfered jambs, and a 19th-century plank door. A tombstone dedicated to Johnathon Field, who died in 1760, is set into the floor.

The north aisle is 19th century, reusing a 13th-century west lancet. The north side is partly raised using red brick, with two lancet windows. The 19th-century vestry features a doorway with a Caenarvon head and a plank door, along with a pointed window on its north side. The chancel’s east end is distinguished by a large, single, pointed window with a weathered hoodmould. Above, a gable incorporating a finial is present, flanked by two-stage angle buttresses. The early 14th-century south side of the chancel was raised in the 19th century using red brick. It contains two early 14th-century pointed windows, each with two cusped ogee lights and a quatrefoil above, with the western window restored and both featuring hoodmoulds. A 19th-century south baptistery contains re-used medieval fragments embedded in its west and east sides, and has a pointed two-light window reusing some 13th-century stone with a 13th-century hoodmould.

Internally, an arch leading from the nave to the baptistery consists of a re-set early 13th-century arcade bay, with a double-chamfered pointed arch, keeled responds, plain capitals, and bold abaci. A Caenarvon-headed doorway leads to the vestry, with a 20th-century plank door. A 13th-century piscinia with an ogee head is set into the south wall of the chancel. A plain 12th-century drum font is located in the baptistery. An early 18th-century hatchment is positioned above the west door, while a more ornate 20th-century altar rail, pews, a lectern, and a pulpit are also present. On the north side of the chancel is a white marble monument on a black marble field, featuring a weeping angel holding a dipped torch—a memorial to Frances Alington, who died of a broken heart in 1828, created by E. Gaffin. The south side of the chancel hosts a similar monument with a relief showing two wealthy women giving food to a poor family, by T. Gaffin, commemorating Mrs Pye, who died in 1847.