Denomination Church of England Parish Thoroton Phone +44 1949 850912 Dedication Saint Helena | Website The Cranmer Group Vicar(s) The Revd Bryony Wood Province Province of York | |
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Address Church Lane, Thoroton, Nottinghamshire, NG13 9DS , United Kingdom NG13, United Kingdom Diocese Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham Similar Bingham Town Council, Rushcliffe, The Nottingha Golf and | ||
St Helena's Church, Thoroton is a parish church in the Church of England in Thoroton, Nottinghamshire.
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The church is Grade I listed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport as a building of outstanding architectural or historic interest.
Heritage
The church is medieval, with fragments of the East end dating from the 11th century, but was restored in 1868–69 by the architect John Henry Hakewill, son of Henry Hakewill.
This involved rebuilding the chancel and re-roofing and re-seating the church. The 14th-century tower has a restored corbel table with masks and four gargoyles and an octagonal spire. Most of the stained glass is from 1869. The vestry has been converted into a chapel. The plain round font there has a restored 14th-century base.
The dedication (earlier "St Helen") is to St Helena of Constantinople, the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine. She was reputed to have found the True Cross while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in AD 326.
In the 17th and 18th centuries the church and its parish formed a chapelry of Orston. The pre-restoration church was described architecturally by a visitor, Sir Stephen Glynne, on 12 April 1866, when it was in disrepair. The prompting for the restoration came on 27 April 1868, when it was badly damaged by lightning.
The church has a Latin slate tablet in memory of Gulielmi (i. e. William) Barrett (1760) and a marble war-memorial tablet (1919).
Parish structure
The church is in the Cranmer Group of parishes, which also includes St Thomas's Church, Aslockton, the Church of St Mary and All Saints, Hawksworth, St Mary's Church, Orston, the Church of St John of Beverley, Scarrington, and the Church of St John of Beverley, Whatton. Thoroton has a service at 9 am (Holy Communion or Matins) on the second Sunday of the month.