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I Location

II General Description

St Helen's has an aisleless nave with a large S transept, no tower but a bellcote on the W gable, and a chancel with N vestry. The chancel, facing the road, is neo-Romanesque work of 1850, replacing an 18thc. chancel, which in turn replaced the original. The nave is 12thc. and the transept dates from c. 1300. Construction is of coursed rubble except for the ashlar chancel. The restoration of 1850 involved the rebuilding of the chancel and vestry, the rebuilding of the N wall of the nave, and the addition of the bell-cote. There is a 12thc. chancel arch and N doorway.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) Nave N doorway

Two orders with tympanum, round headed 1st order. The tympanum is a single semicircular block carved with an overall design of lattice with bosses in the squares. It has no lintel but rests directly on hollow chamfered impost blocks with rolls above and below the chamfer. The jambs are plain and square.

2nd order: en-delit nook shafts on double roll bases support cushion capitals with recessed shields, angle wedges and roll neckings. Imposts as 1st order. In the arch is an angle roll and face hollow, and a thinner roll on the soffit. There is no label.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

a. Chancel arch/Apse arches

(i) Chancel arch

Round headed, two orders to W, one to E.

1st order, E face: plain, square jambs and arch with plain, hollow chamfered imposts.

1st order, W face: en-delit nook shafts on bases: roll, lipped chamfer, roll necking to the N, and a fat roll below a roll necking to the S. The N capital is a cushion with an angle mask (beardless male head). The upper and lower edges of the shields are outlined by sawtooth, and within it a U-shaped half-roll. The bell is scalloped. The S capital is a simpler cushion with an angle mask (bearded male head), plain bell and two rolls of cable outlining the lower edge of shield. Both capitals have roll neckings and plain hollow chamfered imposts. The arch is carved with point-to-point chevron -fat roll/ hollow on the face, thin roll on the soffit, and pyramids in the lozenges on the angle.

2nd order (W face only): supports are the same as the 1st order (W) to N and S. Volute capitals to N and S with roll neckings and plain hollow chamfered imposts. In the arch is lateral chevron - a fat roll with a double step outside it. There are pyramid lozenges on the angle, outlined by a groove on the soffit, so notionally point-to-point in this order too. Some sections of impost are obviously replacements, and the bases and neckings are suspiciously crisp, but the capitals and arch decoration appear to be original.

VII History

The manor was held by Walter Giffard in 1087, no church is noted.

Now benefice of Stilton (St Mary Magdalene) with Denton and Caldecote, and Folksworth with Morborne and Haddon.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The chancel arch and doorway presumably belong together, and should be dated to the 2nd quarter of the 12thc. The volute capitals of the chancel arch are of the Ely Cathedral type with keeled leaves extending down to the necking behind the volutes. The arch profile of the N doorway is also found in the nave at Ely.

IX Bibliography