Church of St Helen

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 27 April 2022 to remove superfluous amendment details and to reformat the text to current standards

SE 64 SW 2/34

ESCRICK YORK ROAD (west side) Church of St Helen

17.11.66

II *

Church. 1857 by F C Penrose for Rev and Hon Stephen Willoughby Lawley and the second Lord Wenlock with restorations of 1923 by John Bilson. Sandstone ashlar with plain tile roof. Gothic Revival style with Geometrical tracery throughout. Five-bay nave with north aisle and further single bay vestry, south porch, two-bay apsidal chancel, eight-sided apse to west end, five-stage north-east tower. South porch to first bay has three-quarter diagonal buttresses. Pointed entrance arch with band and three trefoil headed lights above. Battlements on band with gargoyles. Octagonal stair turret to rear with short spirelet.

Nave: plinth. South side: buttress with off-sets to angles. Three-light, pointed windows with continuous hoodmould. Corbel table with strapwork band. North aisle has buttresses with off-sets and two-light, straight-headed windows with hoodmoulds and continuous sill band. Three-light, pointed window to west end. Vestry has pointed plank priest's entrance to east end. Angle buttresses. Three-light window to north with quatrefoils to head. Battlements. West apse has three-quarter buttresses to angles, ogee-headed entrance with iron crypt door and six two-light, pointed windows with trefoils to heads on continuous sill band and under hoodmoulds. Gargoyles on band. Chancel recessed slightly and has buttresses with off-sets, a trefoil-headed niche to first bay and two-light pointed windows with trefoils to heads throughout. Embattled north east tower buttresses have angles surmounted by pinnacles, pointed east plank doorway in chamfered surround. Five-light arcade to third stage. Twin two-light bell openings to each side. Semi-circular stair turret adjoins chancel.

Interior: nave has pointed arcade on clustered piers. Pointed chancel arch and west apse arch. Inner roofed arcade on marble columns. Marble font supported by three putti.

Monuments in west apse: early C14 mutilated effigy of knight, wall monuments to Lady Jane Lawley d.1816 by Thorwaldsen; to Richard Thompson, d.1820 (unsigned); to Beilby Thompson, d.1799 by Fishers of York. In north aisle, to Lady Wenlock d.1868 by Count Gleichen with a recumbent figure; wall plaque to Beilby, 3rd Baron Wenlock by Eric Gill.

Pevsner N, Yorkshire, York and The East Riding, 1978, pp 223-4.

Listing NGR: SE6280543127