Helpringham
| Helpringham | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 St Andrew's Church, Helpringham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF139410 |
| Location: | 52°57’16"N, 0°18’18"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Sleaford |
| Postcode: | NG34 |
| Dialling code: | 01529 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Kesteven |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Sleaford and North Hykeham |
Helpringham is a village in Kesteven, the south-western part of Lincolnshire. It stands at the edge of the Fens, five miles southeast of Sleaford. It is noted for its Grade I listed parish church, St Andrew's.
History
In 1885, Kelly's Directory noted the parish area as 3,227 acres with principal agricultural production of wheat, barley, oats, beans, turnips, and seeds. The population in 1881 was 941. Chief landowners at the time included Lord Willoughby de Broke. There were three chapels: Baptist, Congregational and Primitive Methodist, the last rebuilt in 1883. Parish occupations at the time included 30 farmers, one of whom was a maltster, a market gardener, two coke & coal merchants, three machine owners, a wheelwright, two blacksmiths, a harness maker, a carrier, 2 carpenters, a bricklayer, 2 millers, 2 bakers, a miller & baker, 3 draper & grocers, a butcher, 2 beer retailers, one of whom was also a butcher, a shopkeeper, three shoemakers, one of whom was a registrar for births and deaths, publicans at the Sun, the Willoughby Arms and the Nag's Head public houses, and two tailors, one of whom was also the clerk to the burial and school boards. Helpringham School Board was formed in 1876, to serve a Board School built in 1877. The school held 150 children and had an average attendance of 98.[1]
There was a railway station just west of the village on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line. This station closed in 1970 and the nearest station now is at Heckington.
Parish church
The parish church, St Andrew originates from the 13th century with later additions and adaptions, it was restored in 1891 by Hodgson Fowler following a roof collapse in 1890. The church is completely ashlar-faced. The tower is of Decorated style with a Perpendicular Gothic crocketed spire attached by flying buttresses, and pinnacles set in battlements.
The church is a Grade I listed building.[2] Pevsner regarded it as "fine" and Cox as "handsome... [with an] exceptionally fine tower".[3][4]
The north side of the chancel houses a mural brass to Antonie Newlove, patron of the vicarage, died 1597. The circular font is from 1200 and the rood screen 17th century, and parts of an architectural Norman frieze are on the south wall and north-east corner.[1][3][4]
The church appears on a Royal Mail stamp issued on 21 June 1972 as part of a set on British Architecture (Village churches).
About the vilage
Further parish listed buildings include the steps to the base of a former village cross, now surmounted by a war memorial,[5] situated on the village green,[4] an 1864 tower mill,[6] mid-18th-century Thorpe Latimer House,[7] and the 1825 Red Bridge over the Helpringham Eau waterway.[8] An early 19th-century circular village pound behind the Methodist Chapel is Grade II listed.[9]
The village has a primary school.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Helpringham) |
- Helpringham Village
- Pictures of the church
- Rebuilding the signal box
- Level crossing accident in December 2004
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p. 474
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168938: Church of St Andrew (Grade I listing)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1964; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09620-0page 570
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cox, J. Charles (1916) Lincolnshire p. 165; Methuen & Co. Ltd.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1306821: Steps to the base of former Village Cross now War Memorial
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168949: The Old Mill
- ↑ National Heritage List 1168970: Thorpe Latimer House
- ↑ National Heritage List 1393138: The Red Bridge
- ↑ National Heritage List 1061815: Pound behind Methodist Chapel (Grade II listing)