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St Botolph, Helpston, Soke of Peterborough

Location
(52°38′8″N, 0°20′36″W)
Helpston
TF 122 055
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Soke of Peterborough
now Peterborough
  • Ron Baxter

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Description

St Botolph's has an aisled, clerestoreyed nave with N and S doorways, the S under a porch; aisleless chancel with a N boiler-room, and a W tower with a spire. The tower, 12thc. in its lower parts, was rebuilt in 1864-65 under the direction of Edward Browning, and at that time Anglo-Saxon foundations were discovered. The S aisle, with its two-bay arcade, was added in the early 13thc., and the N in the mid 13thc. The S doorway, under a 14thc. porch (rebuilt in 1901), belongs stylistically to c.1200, but might be contemporary with the S arcade. The N doorway has been blocked, probably in 1864-65. Around 1300 short bays on corbels were added at the E end of each arcade, and the chancel rebuilt. The chancel windows are dated 1609. At the W end, the aisles flank the tower, but the tower arches to N and S are 19thc. copies of 12thc. work. The tower's lowest storey is square; a chamfer in the 2nd storey produces an octagonal plan, which is maintained for two further storeys. On top is a short stone spire with a single row of lucarnes. Construction is of ashlar except for the chancel, of roughly coursed stone. Romanesque features are the tower arch responds and capitals (the arch is later) and the S doorway.

History

Benefice of Etton with Helpston and Maxey.

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Interior Features

Arches

Tower/Transept arches
Bibliography

Victoria County History: Northamptonshire. II (1906)

G. Boyden, A Guide to St Botolph's, Helpston (church guide). 1988 (2nd ed. 2002).

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Bedfordshire and the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, Harmondsworth 1968, 260.