St. Helen, Wheathampstead.
Steeple headdress.
From afar the odd witches’ hat Victorian spire of the church proclaims its presence at the heart of the little town, standing over the crossing of this cruciform church. Little remains of the Norman building at its heart, the church having grown in every direction. The chancel was extended in Early English times and the transepts and aisles added in the early fourteenth century. This is a big church, and most of its windows have Decorated tracery, unusual for Hertfordshire where most places only had enough money to rebuild in the Perpendicular period. The churchyard is full of big trees, and sits at the crossroads in the centre of town, the outside all flint having been stripped by the restorers of 1865. Down the steps in the porch the nave is dark as the clerestory is small and admits little light. On old tiles in the north aisle sits a battered Fourteenth century font, under one edge the head of a green man, broken foliage from his mouth wrapping the bowl. The window behind has the best bubbly streaky glass in the church, an Annunciation of 1905 by Douglas Strachan. The high arches of the crossing are theatrically flooded with light from big windows with reticulated tracery in the transepts, and in the chancel all of the side windows have clear glass, showing up their wide range of Decorated tracery patterns. Only the cathedral at St.Albans can show such work of that period, with ball flower and fleurons running round arch mouldings on doors and windows, inside and out. The transepts are particularly grand, with large windows to the ends and the east. In the north transept a florid row of crocketted ogee niches was carved as a reredos with a lion’s mask hidden amongst the foliage; in the tracery above remains some original glass. Later in the south transept a tall piscina was added with a leafy head on each side of the canopy cut in relief, here too remain scraps of old glass, with colourful 1869 scenes of Joseph in Egypt by Ward and Hughes in the south window, all palm trees and camels. At the east end of the chancel an Early English triplet remains, full of Ward and Hughes scenes of the life of Christ. To its right the piscina was given an amazing tall carved spire complete with flying buttresses and miniature vault. This fifteenth century marvel is carved in great detail, with lion mask boss and tiny angel pendants.
Steeple headdress.
From afar the odd witches’ hat Victorian spire of the church proclaims its presence at the heart of the little town, standing over the crossing of this cruciform church. Little remains of the Norman building at its heart, the church having grown in every direction. The chancel was extended in Early English times and the transepts and aisles added in the early fourteenth century. This is a big church, and most of its windows have Decorated tracery, unusual for Hertfordshire where most places only had enough money to rebuild in the Perpendicular period. The churchyard is full of big trees, and sits at the crossroads in the centre of town, the outside all flint having been stripped by the restorers of 1865. Down the steps in the porch the nave is dark as the clerestory is small and admits little light. On old tiles in the north aisle sits a battered Fourteenth century font, under one edge the head of a green man, broken foliage from his mouth wrapping the bowl. The window behind has the best bubbly streaky glass in the church, an Annunciation of 1905 by Douglas Strachan. The high arches of the crossing are theatrically flooded with light from big windows with reticulated tracery in the transepts, and in the chancel all of the side windows have clear glass, showing up their wide range of Decorated tracery patterns. Only the cathedral at St.Albans can show such work of that period, with ball flower and fleurons running round arch mouldings on doors and windows, inside and out. The transepts are particularly grand, with large windows to the ends and the east. In the north transept a florid row of crocketted ogee niches was carved as a reredos with a lion’s mask hidden amongst the foliage; in the tracery above remains some original glass. Later in the south transept a tall piscina was added with a leafy head on each side of the canopy cut in relief, here too remain scraps of old glass, with colourful 1869 scenes of Joseph in Egypt by Ward and Hughes in the south window, all palm trees and camels. At the east end of the chancel an Early English triplet remains, full of Ward and Hughes scenes of the life of Christ. To its right the piscina was given an amazing tall carved spire complete with flying buttresses and miniature vault. This fifteenth century marvel is carved in great detail, with lion mask boss and tiny angel pendants.
The church is packed with memorials, brasses in the floor and tablets in the aisles, but the best are to be found in the transepts. The south transept was the Brocket chapel, and the 1558 alabaster altar tomb is to Sir John Brocket and his wife Margaret. It was probably made in Burton on Trent and has strong similarities to the work of Richard and Gabriel Roiley. Whilst the proportions of the main effigies are odd, the details of the doll-like weepers around the base make up for it and the tomb is great fun, retaining a little of its original gilding and paint.
The north transept was the Lamer chapel, for the Garrard family who lived in that house. Much splendid Jacobean woodwork around the church originated in the chapel at the house, including pews, railings and pulpit. The big Corinthian monument showing Sir John Garrard, first wife Elizabeth and their fourteen children dates from about 1637, and is a splendid example of Southwark work of the period, with well carved recumbent effigies and figures of Death and an angel filling the spandrels, all gloriously coloured and resplendent with gold. At his feet his crest is a seated leopard, spots and all, whilst Elizabeth has armoured hands holding up a sheaf of arrows. On the wall opposite are many tablets, including a baroque one to Sir Samuel Garrard of 1724 carved with his symbols of office from his time as Lord Mayor of London, and hidden away at the top one signed by the famous Danish sculptor Thorwaldsen in 1817 showing two rather histrionic mourning Grecian figures. The last of this branch of the family is commemorated by a statuette in polar dress; Apsley Cherry Garrard died in 1959, having written “The worst journey in the world” about his time with Scott’s expedition to the Pole. The cold was so bad that his teeth all shattered from chattering; he was with the group who found the bodies of the polar group, and suffered both mentally and physically for the rest of his life. Out in the graveyard are countless burials: one that caught my eye was engraved with a London Tube train, the last resting place of a proud driver. Could this foretell a rise in interest in funerary art again? The headstones remain here, always a plus, bedding the church into the heart of the town.
This church could do with some work, with fittings not being treated as they should be. I found piles of metal tables leaning onto alabaster tombs, and a Jacobean screen lying in cobwebby bits. It needs a good tidy up and some T.L.C., but though rather taken for granted at least it’s always open, its churchyard opening onto the High Street in the middle of town.
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All rights reserved for this entire site. Copyright reserved to stiffleaf for all text and images, which may not be reproduced without my permission.