Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a parish church located in Hove, with origins dating back to the 12th century for the nave, a 13th-century tower, and a chancel from around 1300. The church features wall paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries, with minor restorations carried out in 1870 and 1929. A porch and vestry were added in 1949, and the tower was embattled and reroofed during this time. The exterior is constructed with coursed flint pebble facing arranged in a herringbone pattern on the nave, Caen stone quoins, and clay tile roofs, including a pyramid roof on the tower.

The church's layout includes a chancel, a three-bay nave, a west tower, a north porch, and a vestry. The two-stage crenellated tower has two lancet windows on the west front. The south wall of the nave features irregular fenestration, with lancets flanking a round-arch head doorway and a small stairlight window at the east end. The chancel has two lancets and a three-light east window, along with two more lancets on the north wall and another tiny stairlight at the east end of the nave. The porch includes a round arch doorway with double doors and upper lights, while the vestry, which adjoins the porch to the west, is lit by a single window on its south front.

The interior has not been inspected but is said to contain remnants of wall paintings discovered on the north wall during restoration in 1949. These include early 13th-century scrollwork in the window splays and other 14th and 15th-century works that are now barely visible. The chancel arch has been removed, and there is a piscina in the southeast corner of the nave. A Gothic-style wooden screen, panelling, and reredos were erected in 1925 in memory of William Nevett. The church features an unusual red brick floor and a pulpit sourced from St Leonards, Aldrington. There is also an unidentified slab from a table tomb in the chancel depicting a husband and wife in Elizabethan costume, along with their four sons, five daughters, and five coffins representing deceased infants. A tondo or pieta commemorates Henry Willett, a Brighton brewer who died in 1905. Unlike many other churches in the area, St Helen's has remained in continuous use and largely avoided 19th-century restoration due to its previously isolated location.