Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a parish church of medieval origin, with major construction phases spanning the 13th to 15th centuries. The south aisle was rebuilt around 1725, and the arcades were substantially reconstructed in 1878 by T. H. Wyatt. The building is constructed of coursed rubble and dressed stone, with roofs of lead, concrete tile and plain tile. It features moulded plinths, chamfered eaves, and coped gables, two of which are topped with crosses.

The church comprises a west tower, north and south aisles, nave, chancel, vestry and south porch.

The west tower dates to the 13th century and is a single stage structure with a deep plinth, string course and, to the west face, two pairs of corner buttresses with four setoffs. The west-facing elevation contains a chamfered double lancet window with Y tracery. Above this are four restored double lancets, and further up stands an octagonal broach spire of 14th-century date, furnished with four gabled lucarnes, four smaller lucarnes above, a finial and weathercock.

The north aisle was enlarged in the late 13th century and comprises two bays with three buttresses, the westernmost being larger. The west end displays a 19th-century double lancet with Decorated tracery and hood mould. The north side contains a 14th-century Decorated double lancet to the east, restored and featuring hood mould and a mask stop, followed by a low side window and a chamfered 13th-century doorway with hood mould. Further east is a late 14th-century double lancet with panel tracery, hood mould and mask stop. The east end has a 13th-century Geometrical double lancet with hood mould and mask stop.

The south aisle comprises three bays with blank ends, each flanked by pairs of corner buttresses. The south side is punctuated by a buttress. The west end features a 19th-century double lancet in 15th-century style with square reveal and hood mould, whilst the east end has a similar triple lancet. The nave has a coped east gable with cross and a 19th-century quatrefoil window.

The chancel dates from the late 14th and 15th centuries and comprises two bays with chamfered sill band. The east end has two diagonal buttresses and contains a restored 15th-century quadruple lancet with panel tracery and hood mould. The south side has an off-centre buttress and two 15th-century double lancets with flamboyant tracery, square reveals, hood moulds and mask stops.

The vestry features a coped gable with cross. To the west is a shouldered doorway, and to the north a 15th-century style triple lancet with hood mould. The east side has two leaded casements, one mullioned.

The south porch is a 19th-century addition with coped gable topped by a cross. It has moulded inner and outer south doors with hood moulds and a principal rafter roof with collars.

Internally, the north and south arcades of three bays feature round piers and responds with lobed bases and round capitals, with chamfered and rebated arches. The arcades support a scissor-braced roof of 19th-century date. The tower arch is 13th century, plain, double chamfered and rebated.

The north aisle windows contain patterned stained glass. The east end holds a memorial window by Joseph Nuttgens dated 1985, adjacent to a chamfered pointed hagioscope. To the right stands a 15th-century trefoil-headed aumbry in a square opening with hood mould and mask stops. The south aisle's easternmost window contains stained glass of 1905. Both aisles have late 19th-century low-pitched roofs.

The chancel arch is 14th-century, double chamfered and rebated, dying into the north wall. The north side accommodates a linenfold-panelled aumbry. The east end features similar panelled, traceried dado and reredos of 1922. The east window contains stained glass of 1888. The south side has a 13th-century pointed piscina to the east, with south side windows containing late 19th-century stained glass. The chancel roof is a pointed wooden barrel vault with stencilled decoration.

The font is 13th-century with a plain lobed bowl on a 19th-century base and cover. A traceried panelled skeleton pulpit of 1878 was fashioned from the chancel ceiling of 1708. A late 19th-century wooden lectern and a carved late 17th-century armchair are also present.

Monuments include a life-size effigy of Robert Jorz de Bethune dating to around 1400, mounted on a chest with shields and featuring an incised cross top. There is a 15th-century incised cross slab, a brass to Reverend John Gifford of 1662, and a recessed alabaster tablet with damaged Latin inscription. Three early 19th-century marble and slate tablets, a 14th-century style tablet of 1853, a 13th-century style tablet of 1862, three late 19th-century brasses and a stone War Memorial tablet with wreath of 1918 complete the monument collection.