Church Of St Helen

HOVE

TQ20NE HANGLETON WAY, Hangleton 579-1/3/159 (West side) 24/03/50 Church of St Helen

II*

Parish church. C12 nave, C13 tower, chancel c1300, C14 and C15 wall paintings, minor restorations 1870 and 1929, porch and vestry added 1949, tower embattled and reroofed, wallpaintings restored 1969. Coursed flint pebble facing, laid in herringbone pattern to nave, Caen stone quoins, clay tile roofs, pyramid roof to tower. Plan: chancel, 3-bay nave, west tower, north porch and vestry. 2-stage crenellated tower, 2 lancets on west front, irregular fenestration to south wall of nave with lancets flanking round-arch head doorway and tiny stairlight window at east end, 2 lancets to chancel, 3-light East window, 2 lancets to north wall of chancel, another tiny stairlight at east end of nave, porch with round arch doorway with double doors and upper lights, vestry abutting porch to west, lit by one window on south front. Interior not inspected. Said to contain remains of wall paintings discovered on the north wall during the restoration works in 1949; these include early C13 scrollwork in the splays of one of the windows, and other C14 and C15 work though barely visible. The chancel arch has been removed. Piscina in south-east corner of nave. C14 Gothic-style wooden screen, panelling and reredos erected 1925 in memory of William Nevett. Unusual survival of red brick floor. Pulpit from St Leonards, Aldrington (qv). Unidentified slab from table tomb in chancel depicting a husband and wife in Elizabethan costume with 4 sons, 5 daughters and 5 coffins representing deceased infants. Tondo or pieta to Henry Willett, the Brighton brewer, died 1905. Unlike other churches in the area, St Helens has been in continuous use and largely escaped C19 restoration due to its then isolated position. (Dale A: Brighton Churches: 1989-; Middleton J: A History of Hove: 1979-).

Listing NGR: TQ2674607274