Description

NZ 44 NW SEAHAM MOUNT STEWART STREET
(South side)

4/32 Church of St. Hild and
21.6.50 St. Helen
(Formerly listed as
II Church, of St.
Hilda and St.
Helen)

Large parish church. 1912 by W.H. Wood. Orange-red industrial brick in English
garden wall bond; moderate-pitch green slate roofs.Basilican plan with altar
orientated towards south; aisled nave, narthex, Lady Chapel to ritual north of
altar and Choir and Vicar's vestries to south. Italian Romanesque style with
round-arched openings and Lombard frieze below eaves and gables of nave.

Ritual west end; low projecting narthex with entrances in left and right returns;
flanking aisles with lean-to roofs; gabled nave has 4 pilaster buttresses and central
rose window. 8-bay aisles, defined by stepped buttresses,have single lancets above
sill band; clerestory has round windows in stepped reveals under continuous,
chamfered hoodmould. Ritual east end: central semicircular apse; projecting single-
storey Lady Chapel to right has smaller apse and 2-bay right return with 2 paired
lancets and entrance porch; single-storey Choir vestry to left has 3 small lancets
and canted corner with doorway to right. Gabled, 2-storey Vicar's vestry to rear
of Choir vestry projects from nave and has square bellcote with louvred belfry,
pyramidal roof and vane.

Interior: Baptistry in narthex has Romanesque-style font with cylindrical shaft and
deeply carved bowl. Rose window above baptistry installed 1915 in memory of 6th
Marquess of Londonderry. Arcade on square brick piers has 7 arches of 2 orders with
a smaller arch towards baptistry. The two eastern bays form the chancel. Carved
arches and pulpits at either side form part of projected choir side screens which
were never completed (source: signed designs which are kept in the church).
Clerestory has continuous hoodmould over windows. Aisles have brick transverse
arches. Sanctuary and Lady Chapel have hemispherical domed apses. Organ loft to
right defined by single tall arch breaking into clerestory. Roof has 7 trusses with
arch-braced beams and arcading above.

Low area walls of brick with chamfered sandstone coping, plain cast-iron railings
and 2 pairs of gate piers with scalloped pyramidal caps to north and east of church.

Listing NGR: NZ4295948284

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26525808

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)