England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Helens

The Parish

The parish of St Helens lies in the extreme east of the Isle of Wight forming part of the island's coastline with Spithead. St Helens is located roughly 3 miles southeast of the coastal resort of Ryde and sits on the B3330 road, an out-and-back road running through eastern Wight from and to the A3055. St Helens is a mid-sized village on the western shores of Bembridge Harbour with properties largely built around a square of lanes on and south of the B3330. Its coastal location gave St Helens access to the fruits of the sea with both fishing and shell-fisheries adding to the usual farming economy, here arable would have been in the majority. In addition to these sources of employment a small quarry was exploited for building stone. Modern developments have come to the parish with the island's iconic small railway, utilising ancient London Tube coaches, passes through the inland portion of the parish. Today St Helens earns most of its income from tourism, a centre for yachting enthusiasts, Bembridge Harbour is usually awash with sail in the summer, in addition the Isle of Wight Coastal Trail passes through bringing a few overnight stops. As a coastal settlement St Helens is easily drained to the nearby Spithead channel, separating eastern Wight from the mainland. St Helens is sited at sea level with higher properties slightly above 40 metres, to the south the chalk down of Bembridge & Brading downs at just over 100 metres form the local high spots. St Helens was typically sized for a southern rural parish at just over 1,800 acres within which would have supported a population of just over 1,350 parishioners. Whilst St Helens is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book the satellite manor of Nettlestone is present with assets of just a pair of ploughs and a small meadow, shared by 3 landholders.

The Church

St Helen's church sits north of the main village by over 3/4s of a mile, sitting within a tight bend of the B3330 as it heads back towards Ryde. This church is not the ancient church of the parish, however. The original parish church stood almost on the shoreline to the east of today's village, at Node's Point. Sadly that site was the subject of frequent inundation so the church was replaced by today's more inland church in 1717, the former tower of the ancient church is an atmospheric site amongst the coastal dunes. The present church was clearly of little interest for Pevsner as his account is a mere 4 lines of descriptive text. The basic nave, chancel and western tower, a rather skinny affair, is augmented by transepts, all being in basic pre-Victorian Gothic. The site is not the easiest to park, given the narrow B road passing the neat lychgate that forms the main entrance. Eben once within the churchyard there are many trees around limiting the views available for the photographer and making for a rather tricky subject.