St Helen, Mareham le Fen

St Helen's is a Grade II* parish church on Church Lane in Mareham le Fen, Lincolnshire, in the Diocese of Lincoln: a late-thirteenth-century greenstone church, partly rebuilt in 1879, with the grave of James Roberts who sailed on the Endeavour with Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks.

Overview

Historic England lists the Church of St Helen (list entry 1215809, designated 14 September 1966). The listing records a parish church of the late thirteenth century, with work of the early and late fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, partial rebuilding of the exterior in 1879, and a vestry extension of 1974. Fabric is squared greenstone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings and slate roofs. The plan is west tower, nave, aisles, south porch, north vestry and chancel. The three-stage tower has a moulded plinth, set-back buttresses and an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles. The north doorway is sixteenth-century, with a Tudor-arched head and shields in the spandrels; it is now covered by the 1974 vestry, built from materials taken from the demolished Church of St Margaret, Old Woodhall. The fifteenth-century south aisle has crocketed pinnacles.

Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer notes Decorated work with some Early English and Perpendicular, and a heavy restoration of 1879. A church and priest are mentioned in Domesday. In the north aisle is the tomb of James Roberts (d. 1826). A medieval stone cross in the churchyard is separately listed and scheduled.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1215809
• Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer: St Helen's Church
• Fen and Hill churches