St Helen's Church, Sefton
| Sefton Parish Church, Dedicated to St Helen | |
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Sefton Parish Church from the south
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| Coordinates: 53°30′16″N 2°58′16″W / 53.5044°N 2.9712°W | |
| OS grid reference | SD 356 012 |
| Location | Sefton, Merseyside |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | http://www.sthelenssefton.org.uk/main/index.shtml |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Helen |
| Consecrated | c. 1170 |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Functional status | Status |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 11 October 1968 |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Perpendicular |
| Administration | |
| Deanery | Sefton |
| Archdeaconry | Knowsley and Sefton |
| Diocese | Liverpool |
| Province | York |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Rev. Nicola Milford |
St. Helen's is the Anglican parish church in the village of Sefton, Merseyside, England, and is an active church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Knowsley and Sefton (since the 2015 diocesan boundary changes) and the deanery of Sefton.
The church has been described as the "Cathedral of the Fields" and "Jewel of South West Lancashire", and is noteworthy as the only Grade I listed building in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton.
St Helen's has gained recognition for its extensive carved Tudor woodwork, which Pollard and Pevsner describe as the "great glory of the church", and for its inclusion in Simon Jenkins' book, England’s Thousand Best Churches, and Clifton-Taylor's list of 'best' English parish churches.
The land was first consecrated in 1170, and a private chapel for the Molyneux family built soon after. The history of the land before this is unknown, but the distinctive oval shape of the churchyard suggests that it may have been used as Saxon burial ground in pre-Conquest Britain.
A small, decorated chapel in the Norman architectural style is known to have existed by 1291, when the building's worth was estimated at £26 19s 4d in the Valor of Pope Nicholas IV. No part of this original chapel exists today, however during building works at the East Window in the early 2000s, substantial Norman floor tiles were discovered and are now displayed in the Lady Chapel.
By 1320, the original building had been completely removed and replaced with a more contemporary Decorated structure, which incorporated a small nave with pointed, geometric tracery windows and pitched roofline. A west steeple with angle buttresses, a cornice and parapet with beehive-shaped pinnacles and distinctive tall spire was also built adjoining it. The spire was partially rebuilt following damage by severe gales in 1802.
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