Church Of St Helen

The Church of St Helen is a church of 1776, designed by John Carr for the Ibbetson family of Denton Hall. It is constructed of coursed squared gritstone with a grey slate roof. The building consists of a 3-bay nave and chancel, an integral west tower, and a possibly additional single-storey west porch in a Gothick style. The porch has pointed double doors on the south side, a finialed hoodmould, and eaves cornices with a pedimented blocking course above. The nave features three pointed windows, the central one retaining original interlaced glazing bars. It has a continuous hoodmould and gable coping. The left return of the nave displays the porch flanked by small arched windows with interlaced glazing bars. The tower's west wall breaks forward slightly, featuring a window of three trefoil-headed lights to the first floor with a hoodmould. The lower stage of the tower includes large quatrefoil recesses, while the upper stage is an open octagonal embattled belfry with pointed arches on each side. The east end of the nave has a Venetian style window with a large pointed-arched central light flanked by lower, round-arched lights, an architrave with classical mouldings, and a continuous hoodmould. A projecting band at eaves level forms a pediment to the gable. The north side has two blind pointed-arched windows; the entrance to the crypt is covered by a lean-to roof, with a taller lean-to addition to the left, incorporating a square 4-pane sash in the return.

Inside, the inner door between the porch and nave has three tiers of three trefoil-headed panels and opens into a vestibule beneath the west gallery, with six-panel doors to the left and right. The left door leads to a stone spiral staircase and the right to a small vestry. The sanctuary is accessed by two stone steps and features a carved oak pulpit and priest's stall, added in 1908. The east window contains painted glass depicting King David and St Cecilia with angels and musical instruments, signed "Henric' Giles Ebora' pinxit 1700." The flanking lights contain heraldic emblems and coats of arms. The west gallery is supported and framed by a tall round-headed arch with a balustrade of double vase balusters. The shallow-pitched nave roof is supported by five king-post trusses with splayed struts forming the base of the king post. The font, located in the south-west corner of the nave, has a splayed fluted shaft with a shallow octagonal bowl decorated with gadrooning; the lid is a later addition. There are 18th and early 19th-century wall memorials to the Ibbetson family of Denton Park. A gravestone fastened to the outside of the north wall of the porch contains the remains of an inscription commemorating Frances, wife of Henry Lord Fairfax, who died in 1683.