SS. Mary and Helena, Elstow, Bedfordshire
Description
The church of SS. Mary and Helena, anciently attached to the Benedictine abbey, is chiefly a building of the Norman period, with some portions of Early English date, and consists of a chancel, or choir, with clerestory, lofty clerestoried nave, aisles, north porch, a vaulted chamber on the north-west and a noble detached tower on the north-west with low spire, containing a clock and 6 bells; five of the bells were rehung and the sixth added in 1909: there are several ancient monuments and two marble mural tablets to the two co-heiresses of the late William Hillersdon esq. the former owner of the manor, whose ancestors possessed it for many generations; there are brasses to Elizabeth Hervey, an abbess, and to one of the nuns: the beautiful Early English vaulted room, now used as a vestry, has a slender column of Purbeck marble in the centre: the north porch is an interesting example of Norman work; the font is Early English and the ceiling Perpendicular: in 1882 the church was thoroughly restored at the expense of Samuel Whitbread esq. under the direction of T. J . Jackson, of Bedford, at a cost of upwards of £6,000, and the tower at the expense of Francis Spencer Wigram esq. by whom also the chancel was refitted in 1905, from designs by the present vicar: at the east end of the south aisle are two memorial windows to John Bunyan, and there are three others, one of which was erected in commemoration of the Jubilee of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria: the church also contains some armour worn at Floddenfield.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1640.