NHER 10334 (Building record) - St John the Baptist's Church, Hellington

This isolated church stands on a hill and is architecturally one of the most interesting in the area. Much money was lavished on it by the Kerdiston family in the 14th century, and although the building underwent alteration and addition in the 17th and 19th centuries, a lot of the work from this period remains. The church consists of a round west tower, nave, chancel and a very unusual south porch. The tower probably has Norman origins, but the decorated north and south doors are definitely Norman (as is the tower arch), and are extremely fine examples. The rest of the church is fairly elaborate 14th century work, including the front of the south porch, but perhaps not its sides (see below). The bell openings are also 14th century, and the tower itself may have been rebuilt at this time. The south porch east and west walls each have three large open niches, somewhat out of proportion to everything else, and it has been suggested they were removed from somewhere else and inserted there in the 19th century. The church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, and was renovated in the 1990s.