St Helen's Church, North Thoresby
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St Helen's Church is the Anglican parish church in the village of North Thoresby in Lincolnshire, England.[1] Built of squared limestone rubble, chalk and limestone coursed rubble, the church is a Grade II* listed building with diverse stonework dating from Saxon, Norman, and Elizabethan restorations.[2][3]
The church occupies a site where Christian worship has continued since Saxon times.[2] Like most churches of its age it has seen many alterations from an original simple room to a 15th-century edifice with north and south aisles.[4] The tower is in three stages with a 13th-century lancet window in the middle stage on the south side.[3] Major restorations of the church took place in the 13th, 14th and 16th centuries and also in 1732 and 1903.[3]
The south aisle was demolished in Elizabethan times but remains of it survive inside the church. The church includes part of a Saxon grave cover, originally part of a Celtic cross,[2] unusual early Tudor bench-ends with poppyheads featuring initials, possibly of churchwardens or their families[2][4] and Restoration plaques which record the work tradesman such as "putty makers". On the wall above the chancel arch is mounted a Royal Charter of George I Coat of Arms dated 1722.[4] There is also a memorial tablet to Francis Bond (1852–1918), the late 19th-century authority on Gothic architecture, who was born in the village.[1]
In the south wall of the chancel is a trefoil headed 13th century piscina. The circular tub font is 12th century Norman, while the frontispiece hanging on the front of the children's altar is made from silk brocade which was used in Westminster Abbey during the coronation of Elizabeth II.[2] Historically the parish was within Haverstoe, the south division of the Bradley-Haverstoe wapentake, in the North Riding of Lindsey.[5] Today the church is in the Archdeaconry of Stow and Lindsey in the Diocese of Lincoln.[6]
