Description

CLIFFORD CHAMBERS

SP1952 Church of St Helen
1912-1/10/50
05/04/67

GV II*

Church. Mid C12 nave with later windows and remains of C13
north transeptal chapel; late C14 west tower with C15
features; extensively restored c1886 by J Cotton of
Birmingham, C12 chancel rebuilt and lengthened, vestry and
south porch built, and roofs replaced.
MATERIALS: rubble with ashlar dressings, the chancel of
snecked stone; tile roofs, the chancel with cresting.
EXTERIOR: chancel has coped gable with cross and offset
diagonal buttresses; plinth to east end; 4-light east window
with Perpendicular tracery; south side has low 2-light window
with hood and 2 C19 straight-headed windows, 2-light and
single-light, with labelmoulds and cusped lights flanking
gabled buttress with cusped panel, foliate stops, crockets and
fleuron; gargoyle with downspout to north and south.
Vestry has 2 gables and lateral buttresses; valley gargoyle
between two 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery; east
entrance and re-set lancet to west with low transom, part of
coped gable to chancel west has end stack.
Nave has plastered plinth and offset buttresses and coped
gables to west end; north side has C20 block to west of centre
covering blocked C12 round-headed entrance to west of offset
buttress; small re-set light with splayed reveals to east end,
4-light straight-headed window with ogee-headed lights and
label, and similar single light to west end; south side
similar, timber-framed gabled porch on high stone plinth with
C12 round-headed inner entrance shafts with scallop capitals
and roll moulding and roundels to worn arch, off-centre
scratch dial to tympanum; door has strap hinges, studs and
battens forming 4 panels with shouldered heads, battens, rails
and large lock to rear;
2-light window to west end has similar details to those to
north but with head stops, 4-light straight-headed window to
east end has cusped lights and labelmould, flanking C19
buttresses similar to that to chancel south side, but that to
east raised above eaves; gargoyle with downspout.
West tower of 2 stages has offset diagonal buttresses flanking
3-light window with Perpendicular tracery, C18 wall tablet to
south, and 3-face clock and string course above; upper stage
has 2-light louvred bell openings with hoods over blind
tracery, cornice with gargoyles and crenellated parapet with
continuous moulding and restored pinnacles; pyramidal roof
with weathercock.
INTERIOR: 1880s roofs and chancel arch; chancel has cornice
with Apostles to corbels supporting roof with moulded members;
segmental-pointed arch to organ loft has angle corbels to
hood, vestry door has 3-centred head, continuous moulding and
ogee hood, south-east window has sedile recess below.
Nave has waggon roof part of arch to removed north-east
chapel, reset window with one shaft beneath and part of jamb
to left; 4-centred tower arch and exposed masonry to west
wall.
FITTINGS: chancel has C12 pillar piscina with plain flared
bowl; mid to late C17 altar rail on turned balusters; simple
1930s stalls with linenfold panels. Nave has early C17 pulpit
to north of chancel arch, with enriched round-headed panels
and acanthus frieze; heptagonal font, possibly C12 with C15
re-cutting on C19 base, flat lid with brass finial; 3 charity
boards dated 1924 and an earlier board.
MEMORIALS: chancel has large alabaster and marble wall
memorial to north wall to Sir Henry Rainsford, d.1622, and
Anne his wife: recess with round-arched centre has flanking
Composite columns and entablature with crest and finials, 2
kneeling figures facing each other over a prayer desk, apron
with inscription panels and panel with infant and 2 males;
Hercules Rainford, d.1583, and Elizabeth his wife: floor slab,
now set on north wall, has brass inscription panel and
figures, similar memorial to Elizabeth Rainsford, d.1601.
STAINED GLASS: some fragments of medieval glass to vestry
window, and good c1900 glass to chancel east window and small
light to nave north side.
Although much restored and rebuilt, the church retains
features of interest.
(Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Warwickshire: Harmondsworth:
1966-: 233-4; Victoria County Histories: Victoria History of
the County of Gloucestershire: 1965-: 214 FF).

Listing NGR: SP1982652118

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17551966

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

• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover