St Helen's Church, Abingdon
| St Helen's Church | |
|---|---|
| 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°WCoordinates: 51°40′03″N 1°16′58″W / 51.6676°N 1.2829°W | |
| Location | Abingdon, Oxfordshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | St Helen's Church |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Helen |
| Architecture | |
| Status | church |
| 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 |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Dr Charles Miller |
St Helen's Church is a Church of England parish church in Abingdon on the bank of the River Thames in Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire), England. The church is thought to occupy the site of the Anglo-Saxon Helenstowe Nunnery.
The church spire is a landmark of the town. The earliest parts of the church are late 12th- or early 13th-century. Some of the windows are 14th-century and the building was remodelled in the 15th and 16th centuries. The building was restored in 1869–73 to plans by the Gothic Revival architect Henry Woodyer. Of note within the church are the painted ceiling panels of the north aisle, dating from about 1390 and representing the Tree of Jesse. The church is a Grade I listed building.
Around the churchyard are three sets of almshouses: Long Alley Almshouses built in 1446, Twitty's Almshouses of 1707 and Brick Alley Almshouses of 1718. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner declared "No other churchyard anywhere has anything like it."
The northeast tower has a ring of ten bells. The remains of a ring of eight cast by Lester and Pack of Whitechapel in 1764, several were later recast when the ring was augmented to ten and the 7th was recast in 1970. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast ten new bells in 2005, the old bells being found new homes elsewhere. The new bells were hung by local bellhangers Whites of Appleton. St Helen's has also a sanctus bell cast by Ellis I Knight of Reading, Berkshire in 1641. The church clock has a single bell cast by Henry Bond of Burford in 1902, this having formerly been the 8th bell of the ring of ten at Long Crendon, Bucks, and the former 8th of the Abingdon ring taking its place at Long Crendon.
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