Church of St Helen
CHURCH OF ST HELEN, HIGH STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1103657
- Date first listed:
- 19-Oct-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Helen
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST HELEN, HIGH STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-09-11
- Reference:
- IOE01/01985/36
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian Doble. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1103657
- Date first listed:
- 19-Oct-1953
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Helen
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST HELEN, HIGH STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST HELEN, HIGH STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Hertfordshire
- District:
- St. Albans (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Wheathampstead
- National Grid Reference:
- TL1765814020
Details
TL 1714
14/428
19.10.53
WHEATHAMPSTEAD
HIGH STREET
(west side)
WHEATHAMPSTEAD
CHURCH OF ST HELEN
GV
I
Parish church. Pre-Conquest and Norman origin. Chancel, c,1230.
crossing tower, late C13. Nave and aisles, early-mid C14. N and
S transepts, c.1330-50. N vestry added c.1380, but altered and
enlarged 1897. Whole church was restored 1865-6 by Edward
Browning. Flint rubble. Stone dressings. Slate roofs.
Cruciform plan, the nave and chancel equal length. Large central
tower with leaded pyramid roof surmounted by a spire. Many good
Decorated period windows, especially to the transepts and the
chancel N and S walls. Early C14 W door with ball flower
ornament in double hollow surround. S porch of similar date with
chamfered arch and attached shafts. Interior: nave arcade of 3
arches; octagonal piers, moulded capitals and bases. Roof with
arch-braced collar trusses. Figured stone corbels. Crossing has
broad chamfered piers and arches. S transept has stone arch in S
wall, said to be a Saxon doorhead, and the E wall has an
intricate decorated style window with fleurons in the jambs.
Corresponding window in the N transept has ballflower ornament
and beneath the sill is an intricate blind arcade of c.1330.
Large N window with net tracery. The chancel E end has 3 lancet
windows of c.1230 set in deep splays and with deeply cut moulded
arches. C15 piscina in jamb of SE window. Door to vestry with
dog-tooth moulded arch. Font at W end of nave is early C14,
octagonal, with quatrefoil frieze. Early C17 oak pulpit with
shallow strapwork ornament. Jacobean screen at entrance to N
transept, probably fragment of a former W gallery. Pews behind
this are early-mid C17, one dated 1631. Many good monuments:
alabaster tomb chest to Sir John Brocket and his wife (1558) with
two recumbent figures and armorial frieze; large wall monument
to Elizabeth Garrard on W wall of N transept, 1630s: broad arch
surround with columns, broken pediment overthrow and semi-
reclining alabaster figures; next to this a classical wall
plaque to Sir John Garrard (d.1700). On E wall the many plaques
include one by Thorwaldsen, 1817. (RCHM (1910); Pevsner
(1977)).
Listing NGR: TL1765814020
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 163972
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)
Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 12-Jun-2026 at 01:42:06.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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