Description

TF 29 NE NORTH THORESBY CHURCH LANE

4/44 Church of
St. Helen
9.9.67
II*

Parish church. C13, C14, C16, 1732, 1903 restoration. Squared
limestone rubble, chalk and limestone coursed rubble with slate
roofs. Western tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch.
The tower of 3 stages has stepped clasping buttresses, chamfered
string courses, embattled parapet having 8 crocketed pinnacles.
In the south side in the middle stage is a C13 lancet. Paired
pointed belfry lights with single chamfered surrounds in 4
directions. In the west wall is a C20 lancet. The north aisle
is separately roofed and in coursed limestone and chalk rubble.
The west window is late C13 with Y tracery. And above is a C16
embossed terracotta tile. In the north wall are 2 C14 windows
with 3 lights, with mouchettes and a recut late C13 window with
intersecting tracery, also a blocked doorway more clearly visible
on the inside. In the east aisle wall the window matches that to
the west. In the chancel east wall is a C20 window of 3 lights
with cusped heads and central septofoil. The south wall of the
chancel has 2 single and single paired lancets, all C13, and a
planked door with brick surround, probably dating from 1732. In
the blocking of the south nave arcade are set 2 tall C20 windows
with cusped heads to the 3 lights. The gabled porch has a
continuously moulded chamfered outer arch and a similar inner
arch dying into its reveals. Above is a rectangular plaque
inscribed with the initials TH in a C16 script. The reset inner
doorway is late C13 with paired angle shafts to the reveals,
moulded imposts and hood. Interior. Early C13 3 bay north and
south arcades. The north arcade has annular piers and capitals
with double chamfered arches. The south arcade, now blocked, has
clustered quatrefoil keeled piers, moulded capitals, double
chamfered arches. The tower and chancel arches spring from
octagonal corbels and have double chamfered arches. The tower
arch has a hood with ammonite stops and the chancel arch has
human heads beneath the corbels. At the east end of the north
aisle is set high up a C18 wreathed plaque. In the chancel north
wall a single chamfered arch with octagonal corbels opens into a
former north chapel. Also in the north wall is a small reset C13
capital decorated with foliage and hobnail. In the south wall is
a trefoil headed C13 piscina, and high up a fragment of C12
voussoir comprising 2 fine orders of chevron moulding. Fittings
are all C19 or C20 apart from a set of early C16 bench ends with
initials presumably of the church wardens' families. The font is
a C12 circulr tub with a short run of billet moulding in the
lower band standing on a splayed octagonal base. Monuments. At
the west end of the nave a fragment of a C10 gravemarker
decorated with figure of 8 intertwining knots and cable moulding
round the edges. To either side of the chancel arch are 2 stones
recording the church's restoration in 1732. Reset in an aisle
window are 3 figure panels of C15 stained glass. At the west end
of the nave is a fragment of C10 grave marker with a triple
pattern of double knot motifs and an outer border of cable
moulding, all in low relief.

Listing NGR: TF2900098768

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Helen's Church, North Thoresby at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17548859

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)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)