Architectural Features
INTERIOR: The earliest surviving masonry is probably in the north chancel aisle, which was built to house a chantry in 1288.
The south chancel aisle was also added in the C13.
The present spacious appearance of the interior was created in the C15 when the arcading of slender pillars and pointed arches and a new tower were built.
High quality monument to Alderman John Nash with reclining figure set in aedicule with twisted columns to open pediment
restored monument to Dud Dudley , ironmaster and royalist general
and monument to Anne Fleet with five kneeling figures in Elizabethan dress.
Late C19 font in Perpendicular style.
It is now clear that before the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon see of Worcester c675, St Helen's was the main church in its region, and a Roman or sub-Roman origin is not impossible, part of the evidence being the dedication, to Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine (ibid., esp. pp.197-200).
Thus the site has great potential archaeological significance and potential to set alongside its importance as the city's richest medieval parish churches.
After the great fire in the city in 1113, the then rector, Fritheric, gave all his tithes towards the repair of the church.
SOURCES: Nigel Baker and Richard Holt, Urban Growth and the Medieval Church
Pevsner, Worcestershire , 711-12.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: St Helen's is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * As one of Worcester's wealthiest medieval parish churches whose fabric is largely of this era including a number of architecturally elaborate features. * For its fixtures and fittings, including a fine monument to John Nash, d. 1662. * For its historic interest and archaeological significance