Church Of St Helena

Church of St. Helena

This parish church stands on the south side of Main Street in West Leake. It dates from the 12th, 14th and 15th centuries, and was extensively restored with the organ chamber rebuilt in 1878 by Henry Hall for Lord Belper of Kingston Hall.

The building is constructed of dressed coursed rubble with ashlar dressings. It has plain tile roofs with corbel tables on all elevations except the chancel and aisle. The chancel and aisle feature parapets, and the porch, east nave and north organ chamber have coped gables with single ridge crosses. A single chimney stack rises from the south-east nave. The structure is buttressed throughout.

The plan comprises a nave with a west bellcote, south aisle, south porch, north organ chamber, north vestry and chancel. The gabled 19th-century bellcote contains two moulded arches housing single bells, surmounted by a single trefoil. Small carved grotesques appear where the bellcote rises from the nave.

The west wall of the nave sits on a shallow plinth and features a single arched early 14th-century three-light window with intersecting tracery and hood mould, with a 19th-century sexfoil above. The north wall, on a chamfered plinth, contains a blocked 12th-century doorway with zigzag-decorated imposts and formerly a round-arched tympanum, alongside a single 12th-century round-arched light. The restored 15th-century clerestory contains three windows, each with two ogee-arched and cusped lights under a flat arch. A single quatrefoil sits in the apex of the east nave.

The projecting organ chamber has a single-arched 19th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery and hood mould in its north wall. A 14th-century damaged ashlar coffin is adjacent. The 19th-century vestry, set on a chamfered plinth, has a Caernarvon-arched doorway in its north wall and a single-arched two-light window with plate tracery and hood mould in the east wall.

The north chancel features an arched doorway with hood mould, and a 14th-century single-arched two-light window with reticulated tracery and hood mould. The east wall contains a single similar three-light window with hood mould. The south wall has a single similar two-light window with hood mould, alongside an early 14th-century two-light window with Y tracery and hood mould. A projecting lead sundial is positioned here.

The east wall of the south aisle displays a single restored 15th-century arched window with a single transom, having two cinquefoil lights above and below with cusped panel tracery, hood mould and decorative label stops. The south wall sits on a chamfered plinth and, beneath the parapet, extends a band terminating in small carved grotesques. Three 19th-century ashlar cross windows with cinquefoil-arched lights above and below the transoms are positioned here.

The gabled 19th-century porch, set on a chamfered plinth, features a moulded arched entrance with double doors, hood mould and label stops. Above is a single lozenge panel containing a quatrefoil and shield. A single trefoil-arched light appears in the west wall. The inner doorway has a chamfered and moulded arch, with the outer moulded order supported on a single pair of colonnettes. A similar 19th-century cross window is placed to the left.

The interior contains five-bay 14th-century nave arcades with octagonal columns and responds, moulded capitals and double-chamfered arches. The nave and organ chamber are separated by a double-chamfered arch, with the inner order supported on octagonal responds. A similar chancel arch is present.

The south chancel wall contains an arched and cusped piscina. The north wall holds an arched and cusped tomb recess containing a 14th-century effigy of a lady with her head beneath a trefoil arch and crocketed hood mould. A 19th-century reredos with blind arcading and decorative carving stands on the south chancel wall.

The south aisle's south wall features an arched piscina. The north wall of the organ chamber contains an arched tomb recess with a 14th-century effigy of a man whose head is supported by two angels beneath a nodding ogee, cusped and crocketed arch with finial. The south aisle's south wall holds an arched tomb recess with a 13th-century effigy having a dogtooth arch over the head.

The church contains two 17th-century benches and a 16th-century table with turned legs in the south aisle. A 19th-century octagonal font with decorated quatrefoil panels is present. Several 16th, 17th and 18th-century floor slabs are scattered throughout the nave and aisle.

Memorials include one to Richardus Mansfield, 1624, on the north nave wall, with a broken pediment containing a decorative shield and flanked by two shields (the left now missing). The north chancel displays a memorial to Robertus Hemington, 1774, surmounted by an urn, and one to Edward Ellis, 1795, with a pediment over the inscription. The east chancel wall bears a memorial to T. H. Hastings, 1804, by Peck of Loughborough, with a reeded surround and urn-topped crown. The south wall contains a notably fine memorial to Thomas Mansfield, 1742, adorned with cherubs, swags, shields and skull, and topped with a portrait bust. A further memorial to Thomas Mansfield, 1706, has an inscription tablet flanked by single Corinthian columns supporting an open and broken segmental pediment enclosing a single shield.