Church Of St Helen

This is an outstanding medieval town church, predominantly late medieval in character but with origins dating back to the 7th century. The earliest surviving fabric dates from the very late 12th or early 13th century, including the tower and parts of the north and outer north aisles, but most of the church as it stands today was built during the 15th and 16th centuries. The interior was refurnished during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and the entire building was restored between 1869 and 1873 by the architect Henry Woodyer.

The church is built of rubble and ashlar limestone with red tile roofs.

Plan and Layout

The building forms an enormous rectangle, reputedly the second widest church in England, largely the result of late medieval rebuilding and extension. It consists of a nave with double aisles to both north and south. These aisles continue eastward into the chancel and eastern chapels without any internal structural division except for screens. The outer south aisle, however, does not extend as far east as the others. At the northeast corner stands the tower, with a two-storey structure adjacent to it, said to have been a priest's house. There is also a two-storey north porch, plus south and west porches, and a southeast vestry or treasury which is narrower than the outer south aisle and separated from it by solid walls.

The plan of the 13th-century and earlier church remains unclear. One theory suggests that the outer north aisle was originally the nave, which would place a lost chancel beneath the present road to the east, though this does not align well with the tower buttresses. Another possibility is that the outer north aisle stands over the site of an older nave and chancel, with the tower positioned to the north of the chancel. In this scenario, the inner north aisle would have been the original south aisle, and the Lady Chapel an eastern extension to that aisle. A third theory proposes that the east end of both north aisles represents the remains of a north transept, with the nave occupying the position of the present nave, again placing the chancel under the road.

Exterior

The early 13th-century tower at the northeast corner rises in four stages, with pairs of pointed lancet windows in the bell stages. The octagonal spire is probably 15th century but was rebuilt in the 17th century and again in 1883. The main north door to the church is located at the base of the tower, featuring an Early English 13th-century doorway with shafts and stiff-leaf capitals, flanked by blank arches. Abutting the northeast corner of the tower is a late 16th-century classical gateway leading into the churchyard.

To the west of the tower stands a large two-storey gabled porch, the upper room perhaps serving as a priest's lodging. Beyond the porch, the north wall of the outer north aisle contains three 14th-century windows.

The west front presents a harmonious composition of five gables, with the central nave gable rising above the flanking aisle gables. Each gable contains large traceried windows from the late medieval period, except for the nave west window, which has been altered from seven to six lights with a transom removed, probably during the 19th-century restoration. A single-storey Perpendicular west porch (also known as the Wedding porch) serves the nave.

The outer south aisle, built in ashlar in 1538–39, is in the Perpendicular style, with a porch dating from around 1550. The east front displays five gables with the tower to the north, all standing against the street frontage. The chancel east window dates from the 19th century. The north and outer north aisles have small, chunky late 12th- or early 13th-century buttresses in the centres of their east faces.

Interior

The interior was heavily remodelled in the 15th century. The nave has double aisles to both north and south. Each aisle comprises seven bays except for the outer south aisle, which has five bays plus the vestry. The Perpendicular arcades feature concave-sided octagonal piers, concave-sided capitals and moulded depressed arches, generally similar but not identical throughout.

From north to south, the aisles are arranged as follows. The North (or Jesus) Aisle is partly late 12th or early 13th century and was extended or rebuilt in the 14th century. Next comes the Lady Aisle. The Lady Chapel at the east end of this aisle was built in the mid-13th century by the Guild of Our Lady, then remodelled and extended in the very late 14th century. The chapel roof is panelled and features a very fine painted scheme dating from around 1390, depicting foliage and figures showing the Tree of Jesse, with a painted inscription recording the chapel's commissioning and repair. The remainder of this aisle has an early 15th-century roof.

The central nave and chancel, with a clerestory to the nave, are 15th century. The inner south aisle (St Katherine's Aisle) dates from the early 15th century. The outer south (or Reade) aisle was built in 1539, its roof dated and bearing the initials I.A and K.A for John and Katherine Audlett. The chancel interior was refitted in a flamboyant Early English style between 1869 and 1873 by Henry Woodyer, who inserted a new east window, sedilia, tiled floor and wooden rood screen.

Furnishings and Monuments

The church contains exceptional furnishings spanning several centuries. The very fine painted roof of around 1390 in the Lady Chapel is particularly outstanding. The pulpit dates from 1636, having been moved from the nave and cut down in 1849. The organ case was made in 1725 by Abraham Jordan. There is a mayor's seal from 1706 and three large brass chandeliers, one possibly 16th century and the others from 1710 and 1713.

The white marble font is a copy of that at Sutton Courtenay, made by H P Peyman of Abingdon and shown at the Great Exhibition in 1851. The font cover dates from 1634. The old font is said to be buried beneath the present one.

The church possesses good monuments including brasses from the 15th to 17th centuries. At the east end of the outer north aisle stands a panelled altar tomb from 1571 for John Roysse. There are monuments to Dr John Crossley (died 1753, monument 1790) by J Nollekens, and to Mrs Hawkins (1782) by J Hickey.

The chancel sedilia, tiled floor and wooden rood screen date from 1869–73. There is a very rich reredos by G F Bodley from 1897, and an alabaster altar and marble floor in the Lady Chapel by him from 1898. The Lady Chapel screen was created by C R Ashbee's Guild of Handicrafts around 1905. The glass includes several late 19th- and early 20th-century windows by C E Kempe.

The interior, previously reordered in the 18th and 19th centuries and probably the 17th century as well, was reordered again in 2003–04. The pews were repositioned to face the centre of the church where a low platform for the altar was introduced. The body of the church was refloored with simple grey tiles.

Archaeological Potential

St Helen's ancient origins and complex structural history make it likely that considerable archaeology of interest survives below the floors and in the surrounding churchyard. The uncertainty over the position of the early church also means that the area under the road to the east of the church may cover archaeological remains related to the church.

History

St Helen's is Abingdon's parish church. The earliest visible fabric dates from the late 12th or early 13th century at the east end of the north and outer north aisles, and the early 13th-century tower, but a church has occupied this site for much longer. Abingdon Abbey, to the east of St Helen's, was founded in the 7th century and refounded in the 10th century, and the town was an important Saxon site. St Helen's itself is first mentioned in the late 10th century, but may have been earlier. It appears to have been linked to the abbey from an early date, as it paid money to the abbey's infirmary by the late 12th century, and the rectory was appropriated to the abbey in the mid-13th century.

The relationship between the abbey and the parish church was difficult for much of the Middle Ages, with the abbey taking the majority of the parish church's revenues. The town of Abingdon was made wealthy in the Middle Ages by trade and markets facilitated by the proximity to the River Thames and by Abingdon Abbey. In part to counteract the abbey's influence and the exaction of heavy dues, a local guild, the Fraternity of the Holy Cross, was formed. This fostered a spirit of civic independence and invested in St Helen's. The guild also built three sets of almshouses around the edge of the churchyard and a small south churchyard outhouse, and in 1416–17 built a new stone bridge across the Thames.