St Helen's Church, Abingdon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Helen's Church |
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| Parish church of Abingdon-on-Thames | |
spire (left) and west front
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| 51°40′03″N 1°16′58″W / 51.6676°N 1.2829°W | |
| Location | Abingdon, Oxfordshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| History | |
| Status | church |
| Dedication | Saint Helen |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | active |
| Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
| Designated | 19 January 1951 |
| Style | English Gothic |
| Years built | 13th–16th centuries |
| Specifications | |
| Number of spires | 1 |
| Materials | stone |
| Bells | 10 |
| Tenor bell weight | 0 long tons 16 cwt 0 qr (1,790 lb or 0.81 t) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Abingdon-on-Thames |
| Diocese | Oxford |
| Province | Canterbury |
St Helen's Church is a historic church in Abingdon, England. It sits right by the River Thames in Oxfordshire. People believe the church stands where an old Anglo-Saxon nunnery called Helenstowe once was. It is a Church of England parish church, which means it serves the local community.
Contents
Exploring the Church Building
The church's tall spire is a famous sight in Abingdon. The oldest parts of the church were built a long, long time ago, around the late 1100s or early 1200s. Some of its windows are from the 1300s. The church was updated and changed a lot in the 1400s and 1500s.
Later, from 1869 to 1873, the church was carefully repaired and improved. This work was done following plans by an architect named Henry Woodyer. He was known for his Gothic Revival style.
One special thing to see inside is the painted ceiling in the north aisle. These paintings are from about 1390. They show the "Tree of Jesse," which is a picture of Jesus's family tree. St Helen's Church is a Grade I listed building. This means it's a very important historic building that needs to be protected.
Almshouses Around the Church
Around the churchyard, you can find three groups of old buildings called almshouses. These were homes for poor or elderly people.
- The Long Alley Almshouses were built in 1446.
- Twitty's Almshouses were built in 1707.
- Brick Alley Almshouses were built in 1718.
A famous expert on buildings, Nikolaus Pevsner, once said that no other churchyard anywhere has anything quite like these special buildings.
The Church Bells
The church has a tower in the northeast that holds ten bells. These bells are used for change ringing, a special way of ringing bells in a pattern. The original bells were cast in 1764. Over time, some were recast, and more bells were added to make a set of ten.
In 2005, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry made ten brand new bells for St Helen's. The old bells were sent to new homes in other places. Local bellhangers, Whites of Appleton, hung the new bells. The church also has a smaller bell called a sanctus bell from 1641. The church clock has its own bell, made in 1902.
The Church's History and Area
For a long time, the area that St Helen's Church served was very large. It included not only Abingdon but also nearby villages like Shippon, Dry Sandford, Radley, Kennington, and Drayton.
In 1372, a new church, St Nicolas, was built in Abingdon. This meant Abingdon had two church areas until they joined back together in 1989. Over the years, some of the other villages also got their own separate church areas.
St Helen's in Art and Literature
J. M. W. Turner's Painting
The spire of St Helen's Church appears in a painting from around 1806 by a famous artist named J. M. W. Turner. The painting is called Abingdon. Even though the spire is there, the main scene in the painting is actually thought to be a view of Dorchester on Thames, which is several miles away.
The William Lee Memorial
Inside the church, there is a special memorial tablet. It shows the family tree of William Lee (1545–1637), who was the mayor of Abingdon five times. This memorial is even mentioned in a funny book called Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.
The book says:
"...and in St. Helen's Church, it is recorded that W. Lee, who died in 1637, "had in his lifetime issue from his loins two hundred lacking but three." If you work this out you will find that Mr. W. Lee's family numbered one hundred and ninety-seven. Mr. W. Lee – five times Mayor of Abingdon – was, no doubt, a benefactor to his generation, but I hope there are not many of his kind about in this overcrowded nineteenth century."
This quote talks about how many children and grandchildren William Lee had. It's a funny way to show how large his family was!
