St Helen's Church, Lundy

Saint Helen's Church^[1]^[2]
Saint Helen's Church
	View from the north-east
Location	Lundy, Devon, England
Coordinates	51°09′52″N04°39′53″W / 51.16444°N 4.66472°W
Built	1896
Architect	John Norton
Architectural style(s)	Gothic Revival
	Location of Saint Helen's Church in Devon

Last updated January 17, 2025 • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Saint Helen's Church,^[1]^[2] also often incorrectly known as Saint Helena's Church, is an Anglican parish church on the 445 ha (1,100 acres) island of Lundy, lying at the mouth of the Bristol Channel, 19 km (12 mi) off the north coast, and part of the county, of Devon in England. As there is no resident priest on the island, the church is only irregularly used to hold services, though it is open to visitors. It is part of the Diocese of Exeter.

History

The site was originally just a burial ground with memorial stones dating from between the 5th and 8th centuries.^[3] The church was started in 1244 as 'The Church of the island' but with no official name (Calendar of Liberate Rolls, 15.04.1244).^[4] A single reference to the site is known to exist as "Church of St Mary" in 1254.^[4] A small chapel on the island, probably founded in the 12th or 13th century, was dedicated to Saint Elena;^[4] it fell into disrepair by the 17th century. A temporary corrugated iron structure was dedicated to Saint Helen in 1885.^[5] The present square-towered stone church was built in the mid-1890s by the Reverend Hudson Grosett Heaven, financed by an 1895 bequest from Sarah Langworthy, born Sarah Heaven, of the Heaven family which owned Lundy from 1834 to 1918. The church was designed by eminent Victorian architect John Norton, completed in 1896 and consecrated on 17 June 1897 by Edward Bickersteth, the Bishop of Exeter.^[5]

Construction

The NW-SE orientation of the church does not conform to the usual east–west alignment, possibly a result of a deep bed of clay found at the site when the foundations were laid. It is largely built of local granite ashlar blocks derived from ruined cottages on the island. The tower is about 23 m in height. The cost of its construction was £4104/5/7, with architect's fees of £286/0/8.^[5]

Affiliation

The parish of Lundy was created in December 2013^[6] and St Helen's is its parish church. Before then, St Helen's was an "extra parochial place", meaning that Lundy did not fall within the boundaries of any ecclesiastical parish (Lundy is still not part of any civil parish). The parish is part of the Hartland Coast Mission Community benefice.^[7] The church and island are part of the Deanery of Hartland, the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple, and the Diocese of Exeter.^[8]

Description

The slate roof has crested ridge tiles and stone coped gable ends. The tower, with an adjoining square stair turret, has battlements, gargoyles at the corners and lancet bell-openings with trefoil heads and slate louvres. There is a clock face above a niche containing a figure of Saint Helen (bearing an inscription of the Latin form, Helena), over the chamfered, wooden-gated, arch doorway to the porch.^[9]

The interior comprises a nave with a porch beneath the tower, and a chancel, with a transept vestry on the north side. The interior walls are of polychrome brick, red with black and white bands and diapering. The chancel arch is of moulded stone dogtooth decoration with colonnettes on corbels supporting the capitals. The reredos is arched on Purbeck marble colonnettes with alabaster carving depicting the Last Supper. The east window and rose window at the west end contain stained glass.^[9]

Other features of the church include a piscina and sedile, an altar rail with wrought iron standards, a low stone screen, carved stone pulpit and square font. There are ornate wrought iron lamp brackets on the north and south walls of the nave and a pipe organ on the south side of the chancel. It is furnished with benches, which include choir stalls, and a carved wooden eagle lectern.^[9]

Bells

A ring of eight bells installed in 1897 cost an additional £425/18/6. From the late 1920s the bells became unsafe and fell into disuse; in the 1950s they were removed from the tower and stored in the porch. They were eventually refurbished and restored to the tower in working order in July 1994. In 2004 an additional two trebles, cast by John Taylor & Co. were added to complete the ring of ten bells. They are widely used by visiting ringers to the island.^[5]

St Helen's Centre

In 2018, a ten-year plan to restore the building and improve facilities within it was completed to create the St Helen's Centre. It was a joint venture by the Church of England, the Landmark Trust, the National Trust, the Lundy Field Society and the Lundy Island Society of Change Ringers. The National Lottery gave a grant of almost £1 million^[10] towards the restoration of the church and creation of the centre.^[11] As well as its role as a church, the St. Helen's Centre provides the island with a base for study of the island; space for exhibitions and lectures; and a refuge in poor weather.

St Helena

As previously mentioned, the tower bears a niche containing a figure of Saint Helen. The inscription under the figure says "Sancta Helena". All official documentation, for instance the petition and sentence of consecration, give the name of the church as "Saint Helen Lundy Island" (now in the parish of Lundy). Helena is the Latin form of the name Helen. In the early part of the twentieth century several newspaper articles, by journalists who had visited the island, gave the name of the church as St Helena - presumably after seeing the inscription on the tower - and other writers started using the name, resulting in the error being repeated in academic books and journals and even official documentation.

Related Research Articles

St Michael's Church is a Church of England parish church in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. Much of the building is late 10th or early 11th century, making it the most significant surviving Anglo-Saxon building in the county. It is located near the centre of the site of Roman Verulamium to the west of the modern city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Helen Witton Church, Northwich</span> Church in Cheshire, England

St Helen Witton Church, Northwich, is in the centre of the town of Northwich, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. The church is now known as "St Helen's, Witton" or "Northwich Parish Church". It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Middlewich. Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches.

St Peter's Church is in Chapel Street, Congleton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton. Its benefice is combined with those of St Stephen, Congleton, St John the Evangelist, Buglawton, and Holy Trinity, Mossley. Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches. The Church Buildings Council included St Peter's in its group of 300 Major Parish Churches following research produced in 2016. [Pursell 2016]

St Bridget's Church is in the town of West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Wirral North. Its benefice includes the daughter Church of the Resurrection and All Saints, Caldy. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

St Mary's Church is located on Overleigh Road in Handbridge, an area south of the River Dee, in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is also known as the Church of St Mary-without-the-Walls, which was to distinguish it from Church of St Mary-on-the-Hill across the River Dee within the city walls. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester.

St Alkmund's Church is an active Anglican parish church in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England. By tradition, this church was founded in the 900s CE by the Anglo-Saxon Queen Æthelflæd. Certain sources suggest that the saint to whom it is dedicated, St Alkmund, (the son of Alhred, King of Northumbria, was first buried in Whitchurch.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is the Church of England parish church for the village of South Petherton, Somerset, England. The present church is a large and imposing cruciform-shaped structure constructed on the site of an earlier Saxon Minster, with the majority of the building dating from the 13th to 15th centuries; consequently, the building is Grade I listed.

St Andrew's Church is a redundant Anglican church at the south end of the village of East Heslerton, North Yorkshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

The Parish Church of Saint Matthew, Langford is the Church of England parish church of Langford, a village in West Oxfordshire about 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire.

St James' Church is a redundant Anglican church near the village of Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) as a Grade I listed building, having been designated in 1967. The church is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church is about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the southeast of the village on the north side of the B181 road. It stands on the top of a hill overlooking the Lea marshes.

St Helen's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Churchtown in Lancashire, England. Historically, it was the parish church of Garstang; today, as Garstang is split into more than one ecclesiastical parish, St Helen's parish is Garstang St Helen (Churchtown). It is in the Diocese of Blackburn. It has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage. St Helen's is known as the "cathedral of The Fylde".

St Mary's Church is the main Church of England parish church for the areas of Portsea and Fratton, both located in the city of Portsmouth, Hampshire. Standing on the oldest church site on Portsea Island, the present building, amongst the largest parish churches in the country, has been described as the "finest Victorian building in Hampshire". It is at least the third church on the site and has been designated a Grade II* listed building by Historic England. Former regular worshippers here have included Charles Dickens, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Cosmo Lang.

St Helen's Church is in the village of Waddington, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Whalley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the Diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with that of St Catherine, West Bradford. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

Colan Church also known as St Colan Church is a 13th-century church in Colan, mid-Cornwall, UK. Dedicated to St Colanus, it became a Grade I listed building in 1967. The vicars of St Columb Minor have served the church since the middle of the 20th century.

St Peter's and St Paul's Church is a grade II* listed building and is the parish church of the small market town of Holsworthy, Devon, England. The present church, built in the early English style, dates from the mid-13th century. Renovations in the late 19th century included the complete rebuilding of the chancel, the addition of a north aisle and the renovation of the nave and south aisle. The 15th-century three-stage west tower is 85.75 feet (26.14 m) high and houses a set of eight bells and a carillon. The first building on the site was probably a Norman Oratory built c.1130 and demolished in c.1250. Remnants of the oratory have been incorporated into the south porch.

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is the Church of England parish church of Bampton, West Oxfordshire. It is in the Archdeaconry of Dorchester in the Diocese of Oxford.

The Church of St Peter is the 13th-century Anglican parish church for the village of Shirwell in North Devon. It is a Grade I listed building and comes under the Diocese of Exeter. The family church of the Chichester Family who lived locally, the aviator and sailor Sir Francis Chichester, who was born in Shirwell, is buried in the churchyard.

St Mary and St Benedict is the Church of England parish church for the village of Buckland Brewer near Bideford in North Devon. It is part of the benefice of the Hartland Coast Team Ministry. This falls within Hartland Deanery, in the Archdeaconry of Barnstaple in the Diocese of Exeter. Begun in the 14th-century with 15th-century additions and retaining several architectural features from the first church of about 1100, the building was much restored in the 19th-century and has been a Grade II* listed building on the Register of Historic England since 1958.

The Anglican Church of St Leonard at Bledington in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England, was built in 12th century. It is a grade I listed building.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the main Church of England parish church for the village of Uffculme, Devon, England. First mentioned in a charter dating back to 1136, the present church has a mixture of medieval and Victorian architecture and is a Grade II* listed building. The church building is notable for its rood screen, the longest and oldest in the county, as well as its tall broach spire, a rare feature on churches in Devon.

References

1 2 3 "Lundy: St Helen - CHR Church".
1 2 3 Orme, Nicholas (1996). English Church Dedications: With a Survey of Cornwall and Devon. University of Exeter Press (1 Nov. 1996). p. 238. ISBN 978-0859895163 . Retrieved 21 February 2016.
↑ "St Helen's Church, Lundy".
1 2 3 "QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF LUNDY" (PDF). lundy.org.uk. Journal of the Lundy Field Society. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
1 2 3 4 "The Story of the Lundy Bells". The Lundy Island Society of Change Ringers. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
↑ "Lundy Island becomes UK's newest parish". www.northdevongazette.co.uk. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
↑ Status and Team membership both recorded at the ACNY webpage, officially sponsored by the Church of England.
↑ Details recorded on the official diocesan website.
1 2 3 "Church of St Helen, Lundy". British Listed Buildings. English Heritage. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
↑ "Lundy Island project attracts £1 million from Heritage Lottery Fund". 24 March 2017.
↑ "The St Helen's Centre – St Helen's Church, Lundy".

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[nameref-1] 1 2 3 "Lundy: St Helen - CHR Church".

[ECD-Nicholas-Orme-2] 1 2 3 Orme, Nicholas (1996). English Church Dedications: With a Survey of Cornwall and Devon. University of Exeter Press (1 Nov. 1996). p. 238. ISBN 978-0859895163 . Retrieved 21 February 2016.

[3] "St Helen's Church, Lundy".

[lundy-field-society-4] 1 2 3 "QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF LUNDY" (PDF). lundy.org.uk. Journal of the Lundy Field Society. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

[lscr-5] 1 2 3 4 "The Story of the Lundy Bells". The Lundy Island Society of Change Ringers. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2012.

[north-devon-gazette-6] "Lundy Island becomes UK's newest parish". www.northdevongazette.co.uk. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2019.

[7] Status and Team membership both recorded at the ACNY webpage, officially sponsored by the Church of England.

[8] Details recorded on the official diocesan website.

[blb-9] 1 2 3 "Church of St Helen, Lundy". British Listed Buildings. English Heritage. Retrieved 8 July 2012.

[10] "Lundy Island project attracts £1 million from Heritage Lottery Fund". 24 March 2017.

[11] "The St Helen's Centre – St Helen's Church, Lundy".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]