Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

St. Helen's Church is one of the largest in Kent and consists of chancel, transepts, nave, aisles, west tower and south porch. The nave, transepts and tower are of 13th century date but the arch from the north aisle into the transept (partly cut away when the 13th. century nave arcade was constructed) is of late 12th century date and must have survived from an earlier church. The chancel appears to have been entirely rebuilt in the middle of the 14th century (the east window is modern) at the same time as the aisles were widened to their present form. The porch is 15th Century. The advowson (right to nominate a priest) belonged to the Prior and Convent of Christ Church, Canterbury until the Dissolution: it still belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Monument Types

• CHURCH (CHURCH, Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• SITE (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1180 AD to 1899 AD)
• CHURCH (CHURCH, Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
CLIFFE-AT-HOO CP CHURCH STREET TQ 77 NW 14/9 West side 21.11.66 Church of St. Helen
GV I
Parish church, formerly collegiate. Circa 1200, remodelled in earlier C14, with chancel restored in 1853 by George Austin, tower and transepts in 1864 by J.P. St. Aubyn, and the nave and tower by Romaine-Walker and Tanner in 1884. Ragstone and flint, laid in knapped bands; plain tiled roofs. Cruciform church with west tower, nave with north and south aisles, porch with parvis room over, north and south transeptal chapels and chancel. C13 west tower with clasping buttresses, C15 uppermost stage, C19 battlements and staircase projection. 5-bay nave with north and south aisles and deep porch to south. 3-bay chancel with curvilinear tracery in all windows, renewed, all with mouchettes and Kentish cusping. East window rebuilt from fragments found in restoration of 1884. Interior: Nave arcades of 5 bays. Short circular piers with moulded capitals and bases and wide pointed arches with two slight chamfers. Nave piers painted with thick red zig-zags. Clerestorey lancets of C14. Full-shafted wall-arcading in transeptal chapels, two bays to east with two narrower bays to west. Trefoiled piscinas in both transeptal chapels. Chancel with vaulted sedilia and piscina integral with the fabric. Ogee arches with crockets, finials and pinnacles. Foliage in the spandrels, all renewed. Base of late C15 rood screen. Wall paintings in both transeptal chapels, those in the north of the martyrdom of St. Edmund. Fittings: Tower screen of c.1370 with lights in threes and intersecting mullions. Six medieval pews. Some C14 glass in tracery of 2 chancel windows on south side, much restored. C17 communion rail. Arcaded pulpit dated 1636. C15 font. Late C14 tomb recess on north side of sanctuary with cusped and subcusped arch.
Listing NGR: TQ7359476626

Description from record TQ 77 NW 14:
[TQ 73587662] St. Helen's Church [T.U.] (1) A church at Cliffe, served by two ministers, is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. Of this building not a vestige remains, though there can be little doubt that from it the present plan has been developed. St. Helen's Church is one of the largest in Kent and consists of chancel, transepts, nave, aisles, west tower and south porch. The nave, transepts and tower are 13th. century but the arch from the north aisle into the transept (partly cut away when the 13th. cent. nave arcade was constructed) is of late 12th cent. date and must have survived from an earlier church. The chancel appears to have been entirely rebuilt in the middle of the 14th. cent. (the east window is modern) at the same time as the aisles were widened to their present form. The porch is 15th. cent. The advowson belonged to the Prior and Convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, until the Dissolution: it still belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Plan photo- see AO/58/265/8 (2) [Full account] (3) Still in use for public worship. (4) Church of St. Helen, Church Street. Grade I. Parish church, formerly collegiate. c1200, remodelled in earlier 14th century, with chancel restored in 1853. (For full description see list) (5) Additional bibliography. (6-7) Earlier writers had drawn attention to evidence of there having been a small building attached to the north side of the fourteenth century chancel towards its east end, identified as a chapel or sacristy. In 1979 excavations to ascertain the nature of the destroyed building were carried out. Unfortunately the presence of a strip of concrete set cobbling now runs at ground level round this part of the church, constructed to prevent surface water penetrating the base of the walls, and consequently we were not able to dig close to the chancel. Northward of this obstruction, however, we uncovered fragmentary remains of two ragstone walls and the wide chalk foundation of the north wall with two diagonal buttresses. It is thus possible to state that the building measured internally 14ft from east to west and slightly over 9ft in width, allowing for a slight setting back of the north wall on its foundations. There can be little doubt that the destroyed building was intended primarily as a sacristy or vestry as its position in relation to the chancel is that commonly assumed by such structures in parish churches, as at Stone, Crayford and elsewhere. (8)

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for Cliffe Parish. The report states:
"The Anglo-Saxon period (c410 - 1066) is better documented. Cliffe appears to have emerged as a settlement of some importance being an early Jutish estate centre (possibly associated with Northfleet) and a centre of ecclesiastical authority. Cloveshoh (a place generally interpreted as meaning Cliffe-at-Hoo), Acleah and Caelhythe are recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as being the location of a number of synodal councils held by the Bishops of the Anglo-Saxon church in the period 716-825, all of which are generally believed to lie in the parish. The present church of St Helen one of the largest parish churches in Kent, and of largely medieval build, stands on the site of a timber predecessor probably founded by Offa and dating back to at least 774… The most significant of these is the Church of St Helen, one of the largest parish churches in Kent and listed grade I in 1966. Thought to stand on the site of a much earlier Saxon timber-framed church, it is built in alternating bands of flint and Kentish ragstone on a cruciform plan, with a west tower, aisled nave, porch, transeptal chapels and chancel. It dates from the 13th to 15th century and was enlarged and restored in the second half of the 19th century by JP St Aubyn and Romaine-Walker and Tanner." (11)

Historic England, Historic England Archive (Archive). SKE53790.

<1> O.S. 6" 1939-40 (OS Card Reference). SKE47831.

<2> Arch Cant 41 1929 71-88 Plan Photos (AR Martin) (OS Card Reference). SKE35102.

<3> Arch Cant XI (1877) 145-160 (IG Lloyd) (OS Card Reference). SKE36444.

<4> F1 CFW 20-JAN-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42666.

<5> DOE (HHR) City of Rochester Upon Medway 1986 4 (OS Card Reference). SKE40172.

<6> Bldgs of Eng West Kent and the Weald 1980 223-225 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38045.

<7> A Hist of the North Kent Marshes in the area of Cliffe undated 14-29 (WN Nichols) (OS Card Reference). SKE32816.

<8> Arch Cant 96 1980 369-372 (PJ Tester) (OS Card Reference). SKE36250.

<9> Field report for monument TQ 77 NW 14 - January, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4234.

<10> Diocese of Rochester (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1993, Cliffe at Hoo, St Helen: Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29610.

<11> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: Cliffe and Cliffe Woods Parish. Research Report 2014-54 (Bibliographic reference). SKE31591.

<12> Alan Everitt, 1986, Continuity and Colonization: the evoluation of Kentish Settlement (Bibliographic reference). SKE53789.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Medieval Kent (Thematic Essay)