Church Of St Helen

Church of St Helen

A parish church of 12th to 15th-century date, substantially restored in 1899 when a north aisle was added, with further restoration in 1905 and again in 1949. The building is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with ashlar and dressed stone, with gabled slate roofs. It features chamfered plinths, coved eaves, and moulded and crenellated parapets with coped gables and crosses. A single side wall stack is present. The church comprises a west tower, nave with clerestory, north aisle, organ chamber, vestry, south aisle, chancel, memorial chapel, and south porch.

The west tower dates to the late 14th century and rises in two stages. It has a chamfered and moulded plinth, string course, and eaves band with four mask spouts, and is topped with a crenellated parapet carrying an inscription and the Arms of Beauvale Priory. Four diagonal buttresses with six setoffs (those to the east merging with the aisles) project from its angles. The first stage has single-light openings to north and south, and to the west a chamfered doorway with hood mould surmounted by a cusped triple lancet with panel tracery and hood mould. The second stage displays double lancets with Y tracery and hood moulds on each side.

The nave clerestory is lit on each side by three untraceried double lancets with square-headed reveals. The north aisle spans four bays and has at its west end a 15th-century style cusped triple lancet with panel tracery. The north side features five buttresses and four ogee-headed double lancets with panel tracery and square-headed reveals, together with a re-set incised stone. The organ chamber occupies two bays in similar style, with three buttresses and two cusped double lancets to the north, and a doorway to the east. A buttressed single-bay lean-to vestry stands to the east, featuring a cusped triple lancet with coped parapet above it.

The chancel east end is flanked by two buttresses with a smaller central buttress between them, and displays a central pedimented niche. Above this sits a transomed cusped triple lancet with panel tracery and hood mould. The south side of the chancel has two irregular buttresses and a restored 13th-century double lancet with hood mould. The south aisle spans four bays with a diagonal buttress to the west. Its south side contains a double and two triple 15th-century style traceried lancets with hood moulds and square-headed reveals; the west end has an ogee-headed double lancet with panel tracery and hood mould. The memorial chapel is of matching style, occupying two bays with buttresses; its south side has two 13th-century style double lancets and its east end a similar single lancet, all with hood moulds. The south porch is 13th-century, roofed with stone slate and a coped gable with kneelers and cross, and features a chamfered and rebated doorway with hood mould and imposts.

The interior preserves stone benches and a 19th-century roof. A round-headed keel-moulded doorway with triple flanking shafts is present, along with an 18th-century plank door. The tower arch is 13th-century, double-chamfered and rebated with faceted imposts. The tower chamber contains a stained glass west window dating to 1908. The north arcade comprises four bays with round piers fitted with seat bases and waterleaf and gargoyle capitals, with keeled responds bearing leaf capitals and single-chamfered round arches. The south arcade also has four bays with round piers having water-holding bases and moulded capitals, impost to the east and respond to the west, and double-chamfered and rebated round arches with remains of mask corbels above. A 19th-century panelled roof extends over both arcades. The north aisle features an arched opening at its east end containing the organ, with a 19th-century roof of cambered tie beams and arch braces. The south aisle has a similar arch at its east end leading to the memorial chapel, with a 19th-century lean-to roof. A late 20th-century east window by P & Q has been installed on the south side. The chancel contains a 13th-century arch with shaft imposts surmounted by a 15th-century style unglazed triple lancet. Each side displays a two-bay arcade with round piers, rebated round arches, and various imposts. The east end retains a sill band and a memorial window of 1890 flanked by single shaped brackets. The south side has a 19th-century piscina with bracket, and the roof is panelled in 19th and 20th-century work. The memorial chapel has a sill band and plain lean-to roof, with a memorial east window of 1920 featuring flanking shafts and a memorial window of approximately 1978 to the south.

The church contains a 13th-century font with an eggcup bowl and cabled band on a 19th-century base, a wooden lectern of 1887, an openwork oak pulpit on an ashlar base of 1916, benches of 1905, and mid 20th-century panelled stalls and desks. Memorials include a monument of 1630 to Sir William Willoughby, executed in alabaster and ashlar with a chest of arcaded panels carrying two full-size reclining figures beneath a round-headed niche with Corinthian columns supporting a stepped hood with crest and Arms, together with a strapwork back panel bearing an inscription and accompanying marble tablet with rhymed epitaph. Also present are a late 16th-century crested helmet, two incised 12th-century slabs, Royal Arms of 1815, two marble War Memorial tablets of approximately 1920, a plain memorial tablet of 1945, and three 19th-century tablets.