Description

SJ 67 SE NORTHWICH C.P CHURCH ROAD SOUTH
(South-West Side)

5/32 Church of St. Helen
(Witton Church)

24.3.50.

GV I

Church, C14 origin, enlarged late C15/early C16, restored C19. Red
sandstone with flattish roofs concealed by parapets. West tower, 5-bay
aisled nave with south porch, 2-bay chancel with canted apse, south
chapel, north vestry and sacristy of 2 storeys. Crenellated 4-stage
tower has diagonal buttresses, west door, basket-arched panel-traceried
4-light west window, 2-light bellringers' windows on north and south
faces, empty niche on west face, clock with faces to all sides, paired
panel-traceried 2-light bell openings, band carved with foliage, faces
and beasts at belfry floor and, simpler, above west window and below
bellringers' windows; gargoyles; carved to each side of south
bellringers' window in restored raised letters THOMAS:HUNTER. 4, 5 and
6-light panel-traceried windows to aisles and clerestorey. Crenellated
south porch with replaced pair of oak doors in basket-arched opening,
square-headed window in each side and diagonal buttresses. 5-light
east window to south chapel in canted niche, the reveals carved with
quatrefoils and with 5 panels of blank tracery below. 5-light apse
windows transitional between Curvilinear and Perpendicular. C19
organ-chamber, vestry and sacristy north of chancel.
Interior: Basket tower arch with no capitals. Aisle arcades have
piers with coved corners and responds to all faces, with bell
capitals. Pier of former, lower, chancel arch with vertical joint in
stonework above, at junction of nave with south chapel and (north)
with organ chamber. Fine continuous camber-beam-and-panel oak roof to
nave and chancel, with diagonal cross-braces; large carved bosses at
junctions of main beams and smaller ones at junctions of secondary
beams. Framed royal arms on south wall of tower; clock 1888 given by
vicar as memorial to his father Hibbert Binney DD Bishop of Nova
Scotia 1851-1887; 8 bells recast and clock chimes improved 1909 (Canon
Binney's jubilee as vicar). Late C19 glass, biblical scenes
vigorously expressed. Furnishings late C19 or later.

With St Mary's Nantwich and St Michael's, Middlewich, one of the 3
major medieval salt town churches in Cheshire.

Listing NGR: SJ6643573806

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Helen Witton Church, Northwich at Wikipedia
• St Helen Witton Church, Northwich official website
• Wikidata Q7593323

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

• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)