St Helen on the High Street, Worcester
St Helen on the High Street, Worcester
St Helen's is a Grade II* church on Fish Street, just off Worcester High Street, in the Diocese of Worcester and the parish of Saint Nicholas and All Saints with Saint Helen.
- Location
- Worcester , Worcestershire
- Country
- England
- County
- Worcestershire
- City / town
- Worcester
- Address
- Fish Street, Worcester, Worcestershire, WR1 2HN
- Postcode
- WR1 2HN
- Built
- North chancel aisle 1288; rebuilt c.1450; west tower 1820-21; restored 1857-63 and 1879-80
- Architect
- John Collingwood (tower, attributed); Frederick Preedy (1857-63); Aston Webb (1879-80)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Helen
- Diocese
- Worcester
- Parish
- Worcester, Saint Nicholas and All Saints with Saint Helen
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Medieval Perpendicular with Gothic Revival restorations
- Materials
- Limestone ashlar
- Opening hours
- Open Friday 10am to 2pm.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Historic England describes a mainly medieval parish church of limestone ashlar: a five-bay nave, two-bay chancel and full-length aisles, with a three-stage west tower rebuilt in 1820-21, probably by John Collingwood. The east end, refenestration and porch belong to Frederick Preedy's work of 1857-63; Aston Webb restored the church in 1879-80. The earliest surviving masonry is thought to be the north chancel aisle, built for a chantry in 1288; the south chancel aisle is also thirteenth-century. The rest was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style about 1450, when slender arcades and a new tower created the present spacious interior. Nave roof timbers and the inner south doors date mainly from that campaign. Aumbries and piscinas mark former aisle altars. The church was refitted in 1836; most furnishings were removed when it became a record office. An alabaster reredos of 1867 survives among later fittings.
The parish site states that Christian worship here is the oldest in Worcester, with Roman origins and a church from the sixth century, that the building closed as a parish church in the later twentieth century, served as the city archives, and reopened for worship in 2006 under All Saints Worcester.