Austerfield
St Helena

Archaeology

The church consist of a three-bay nave, a one-bay chancel, a north aisle and vestry (built in 1897-8 by Charles Hodgson Fowler), a south porch and a two-bell bellcote.

The earliest features date from the 12th century:

The south doorway has two orders of shafts with carved capitals and a tympanum depicting a carved dragon with a tail shaped like an arrow beneath arches decorated with beak-heads and chevrons.

South doorway Tympanum Dragon

The chancel arch has half-round inner responds and shafts to west, cushion capitals with masks, plain imposts, half-round mould continued around soffit, roll-moulding and incised zig-zag. 

Chancel arch
looking east		 Looking west Cushion capital with
carving of human head

The north aisle (of 1897) has a reset 12th century north door with a plain round arch. 

The three-bay north arcade with circular piers, waterleaf capitals and capitals with leaf crockets (the centre pier of the arcade has a sheela-na-gig facing south-west).

North arcade Waterleaf capital
on the north arcade		 Capital on
easternmost pier

The Sheela-na-gig

on the centre pier

To the right of the chancel south window is the chamfered right jamb of an earlier window.

There are Perpendicular windows of the 14th century in the nave, north aisle and chancel and two lancets at the west end.

Medieval Cross Slab

A fragment of a medieval cross slab forms part of the sill of the south chancel window.

Drawing courtesy of Peter Ryder.