Church of St Helen

Details

NORTH YORKSHIRE HARROGATE 5338 SE 45 SE BILTON IN AINSTY CHURCH STREET (east side)

4/2 Church of St Helen

30.3.66

GV I

Church. C12 with C15 and C17 fenestration, and restoration 1869-71 by Sir G G Scott. Coursed limestone rubble and cobbles, tile roof. 4-bay nave with north and south aisles, south porch and west bellcote; 3-bay chancel with north vestry and south chapel. South porch, bay 2: 2 orders of colonettes with waterleaf and decorated capitals and a double-chamfered round arch. The inner doorway has a slightly chamfered round arch; the door is of wide planks with long strap hinges and overlain by wooden fillets reinforced with iron nails. The doorhead is carved with a scallop shell design and the date 1633. The initials R.S. (Robert Snawsell) are picked out in nails and an incised pair of zigzag lines surmounted by 3 points and the number 44 below the letter R is, traditionally, a depiction of King Charles I. The porch roof contains the remains of 2 arch-braced roof trusses, the braces missing but with bosses remaining; these are possibly from the chancel roof. Nave south wall: stepped buttresses; square chamfered windows with iron grills flank porch; window with paired lights far right. 2 similar straight-headed windows to chancel south chapel wall; a chamfered doorway between. East window of 3 cusped lights with hoodmould. North side fenestration as south; a blocked north doorway to the nave is slightly chamfered. West wall: tall (restored) C12 window and a circular window above. C19 bellcote with 2 round arches and string courses. Large buttresses separate the west nave wall from the north and south aisles. The north aisle has a row of weathered carved stones, not in situ, including shields; the south aisle has a re-set narrow Saxon/Norman-style window. Interior: 3-bay north and south arcades have circular piers with simply moulded bases and capitals; the south capitals are decorated with pellets and fleur-de-lis, the round arches are double chamfered. The chancel arch has a heavy roll moulding overlaid by giant zigzags on the west and east sides. Chancel: remains of a piscina at east end; original north and south exterior walls are visible from the north aisle and south chapel and the eaves corbels are carved with faces, animals and birds. The north chancel wall is pierced by one chamfered pointed arch, the south wall by 2. On the original south wall are the remains of mass dials scratched onto the limestone blocks. Carved stone remains include part of a Saxon cross against the west wall, an unweathered wrinkled face on a north window sill; 3 fragments of C10 Anglo-Danish crosses decorated with figures and interlace in the south chapel, and a fine monument of c1400 in the north chancel aisle depicting a woman with feet on a dog and hands holding a bird and wearing her hair in a plait held in place by a decorated band. The font is a large plain bowl on an octagonal stem; the altar table is C16-C17, the legs decorated in the form of Ionic columns. The altar rail was replaced c1965. The eagle lectern has a C17 body and 1869 feet, wings and head. The Saxon remains were discovered in the walling during the 1869 restoration; the west gallery was removed at that time. The church probably had a bell tower in the C17. W V Crapp, Some historical notes on the parish and parish church of St Helens, Bilton-in-Ainsty with Bickerton, 1973. N Pevsner, Buildings of England: Yorkshire West Riding, p101.

Listing NGR: SE4760550384

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

331703

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - The West Riding, (1959), 101

Other
Crapp, WV , Some Historical Notes on the Parish and Parish Church of St Helens Bilton in Ainsty with Bickerton, 1973,

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