HELMDON The River Nene divides its long and straggling street, which brings us to the church on the slope of a hill. It dates back to the 13th century, with three fine arches in the arcades added in the 14th century and the clerestory added in the 15th. The tower was rebuilt in 1825, when other alterations were made. Reset in the wall, just within the north doorway, is a 13th-century piscina found under the pavement; and in the chancel is a graceful little group of old stonework embracing a 14th century sedilia and piscina with slender clustered pillars, foliage capitals, leafy canopies, and six well-carved heads. Fragments of old glass once in the east window are now arranged in the smaller windows, forming mosaics of bright colour. There is an ancient aumbry with a leafy canopy supported by two quaint heads, while in the same wall is a doorway with a beautiful 14th-century arch leading into the vestry. The east window represents the birth, death, transfiguration, and resurrection of Our Lord.

The glory of the churchyard is the great yew, one of many magnificent trees in the neighbourhood; its trunk is nearly 23 feet round, but storms have sadly maimed this mighty king of trees. In the porch of the rectory is preserved part of the fine 16th-century oak chimneypiece from the rectory which stood where the lawn now is. The chimneypiece is in fine condition and has a date in mixed Roman and Arabic figures which has long been a puzzle but has been settled as 1533.