South Scarle is a village in the Newark and Sherwood district of E Nottinghamshire, 20 miles E of Mansfield close to the border with Lincolnshire. Apart from the church the village has a post office and a community centre. St Helen's consists of a chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, S porch and W tower (the N aisle has been partitioned off to form a separate room). There may have been a Saxon church on the site; by c. 1130 there was certainly structure consisting of the present nave and there is documentary evidence attesting to a church on the site in 1147. The W tower, S aisle, chancel and extension to the N aisle were added in the 13thc. Last to be built was the S porch in the 14th or 15thc. In the 14thc. the tower was rebuilt. Extensive restoration work was carried out in 1871 and 1898. It was during the earlier period of restoration in 1871 that the S arcade was cleaned and redressed. Only the N arcade is Romanesque, but it is a fine example of late 12thc work.

In 1086 South Scarle was held by the Bishop of Lincoln as sokeland of Newark. It was assessed at 2½ carucates. South Scarle was a prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral.

The blocking of the N arcade was carried out in the last 40 years and so the arcade looses some of its impact which can be seen in earlier illustrations such as that in Pevsner. Interestingly though the N side of the arches of the bays would not seem to have been decorated. The decoration of the outer order of both bays is not true chevron as each element in the design is independent of its neighbours.

Pevsner compares the arcade to that at South Collingham, 'but if anything richer still.