St. Helen's Church, Benson
Despite its probable pre-Conquest origins, the present St. Helen's Church in Benson is of no great size or quality, comprising a west tower rebuilt in the 18th century, a heavily remodelled aisled and clerestoreyed nave, and a chancel and adjoining vestry rebuilt in 1861–2. The nave's rubble and flint walling is concealed by render, and the chancel is of flint with stone dressings, replacing a flint predecessor. The part-classical tower is ashlar-faced. The plain tub font is 12th- or 13th-century, and in the 1840s the medieval chancel retained a 12th-century doorway and side windows. Otherwise the earliest surviving fabric (the chancel's rebuilt Norman doorway apart) is a late 12th- or early 13th-century window reset in the south aisle's east wall c.1861. The four-bayed nave (truncated internally by insertion of the 18th-century tower) acquired side aisles in the 13th century, the date of the existing arcades with their cylindrical piers, of which some have stiff-leafed capitals. The chancel arch is of similar date, its imposts recut later. Fourteenth-century refenestration included a Decorated east window and others in the north and south aisles, of which the surviving south windows (with ogee tracery) were restored in 1841–2. A west tower existed probably by the 15th century, and in 1553 contained four bells. The low-pitched nave roof, with decorative trusses resting on carved wooden corbels, is possibly 16th-century, although the north aisles flimsier roof (divided into panels by moulded rails featuring carved bosses and a Tudor rose) may be later. In the 1620s the chancel was 'ready to fall', although the church was in good repair by 1669. Small clerestory windows on the south may have been inserted c.1628 when the roof was re-leaded, lighting galleries or a pulpit. Repairs in 1716–17 included whitewashing of walls and painting of the Commandments and images of Moses and Aaron over the chancel arch, which still had a screen between chancel and nave. Panelling and a plaster ceiling in the chancel (which in the 1860s cut off the east window) dated probably from around the same period, along, perhaps, with 'a choice bit of blasphemy' painted at the chancel's east end. A west gallery was installed in 1722, and a new pulpit, reading desk, and pews c.1725. A small private gallery followed in 1787, and dormers in the north aisle before 1803. In 1765 the vestry voted to rebuild the 'ruinous' tower and expand the ring of bells, the cost to be met from the church estate. Funding difficulties nevertheless delayed the work's completion until 1781. The new tower's lower two stages (designed probably by John Townesend of Oxford) are framed by massive corner buttresses, and feature circular lunettes and plain, round-headed doorways and west window. The taller upper stage was added by Townesend's son Stephen in classical-gothic style, featuring battlements, corner pinnacles, and pointed bell-openings with Y-tracery. A ring of eight bells by Thomas Janaway of Chelsea was installed on the tower's completion, and a clock by John Thwaites of London in 1795. An architect's report in 1806 found the church's side walls dangerously decayed, and in 1808–9 the north aisle was substantially rebuilt by John Philips of Wallingford, and the galleries were reordered. Funds were loaned by a parishioner for reimbursement from the church estate. An organ was installed in the west gallery in 1817, and in 1841–2 the south aisle was renovated and an early 19th-century battlemented porch replaced. The church was repewed, replastered, and repaved in 1853, and in 1856 (following the organ's removal to the north aisle) the west gallery was refurbished for seating, two side galleries having apparently been demolished. The chancel remained dilapidated until 1861–2 when, after Christ Church agreed to meet the cost, it was rebuilt to designs by Charles Buckeridge, partly re-using old materials. The new structure reflected Ecclesiological principles, with its fine timber roof and choir stalls, tiled steps ascending towards the altar, and new east window of triple lancets. An adjoining north chancel aisle (separated by oak screens and the organ) was added as a vestry, and the west gallery was removed. Stained glass by Clayton and Bell was inserted in the chancel in 1868, the east window (in memory of Thomas Powell) designed by F.R. Pickersgill. Later changes were more cosmetic. Heating was installed in 1884, two bells were recast in 1852 and 1922, and in 1903 the organ's replacement involved alteration to chancel seating and screens. The porch was restored and the south door replaced c.1923 in memory of the vicar J.E. Field, commemorative stained glass by H.A. Nicholson was installed in 1936 and 1951 (the latter as a war memorial), and the 19th-century iron chandeliers were electrified. The interior was reordered in 1971–8, when the chancel became a chapel for weekday services, and a new altar was introduced west of the chancel arch, standing on a large multi-purpose platform. Choir stalls were removed and pews reordered, the tower's ground floor (closed off by glazed doors) became a choir vestry, and the font was moved from the south door to the north aisle's east end, in front of a new timber screen. The roofs were repainted. Major renovations in 1997–9 included an added parish room on the north-west (designed by David Birkett), and in 2008–9 the bells were rehung in a new frame. The 18th-century clock mechanism was replaced in 1977, and the clock face restored in 2012. The churchyard was extended in 1863–4, and a new cemetery across the road opened in 1935, acquiring a lychgate in 2002 to mark Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee Historical information about St. Helen's Church is provided by 'Benson (Including Fifield, Preston, Crownmarsh, Roke)', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 18, ed. Simon Townley (Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2016), pp. 21-68. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol18/pp21-68 [accessed 17 March 2023]. St. Helen's Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST HELEN, Benson - 1369032 | Historic England. For more information about St. Helen's Church see Benson (Including Fifield, Preston, Crownmarsh, Roke) | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
