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Church Crawler's
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St Helen's Old Church (Ruins),
Church Road,
Alveston, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church had a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in the 12th century, though it is now closed, but we don't yet know when.

Kelly's Directory of 1897 describes Alveston as a village and parish containing the hamlet of Earthcott and part of the hamlet of Rudgway [sic], and on the Gloucester and Bristol road, 2 miles south from Thornbury terminal station of a branch of the Midland railway, 7 west south west from Wickwar, and 9 north from Bristol. The old church of St Helen, is described as an ancient building of stone, in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower, which "is now used only for funerals".

At the time Kelly's account was written, its replacement, "New" St Helen, was a mere decade old, having been erected in 1885. A new building was needed as the old building was in a poor state of repair, and the centre of population had shifted since it was first built. One hesitates to suggest this was a consequence of the advent of the railways; more likely, perhaps was the result of more mechanisation, and fewer labourers were needed to work the land, as is believed to have happened elsewhere in the area.

There is a short description of "Old" St Helen's included on the Alveston Parish website, which suggests that it has Saxon origins. I am unsure about this, as whilst Domesday recorded a priest in nearby Olveston, there was no mention of one in Alveston (23 villagers, 5 smallholders and 7 slaves).

Histories written prior to 1885, when it was replaced by the new St Helen's, do not shed any light on this. However, as the church is now in ruins, Ralph Bigland's account of the building at the time he published its Memorials (1791) may be of interest:

"The church, which is dedicated to Saint Helen, is a small building, neatly pewed and fitted up within, and has a low decent tower, that has lately been repaired, with battlements, containing 3 bells. This living being annexed to Olveston, for the incumbents thereof and patrons, see that parish".

For details of the remains which now survive, and more photographs see the British Listed Buildings website.

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference ST6319686507. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Helen's Old Church (Ruins), Alveston shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Alveston shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Alveston, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “Your online guide to events in and around Alveston, Rudgeway and Earthcott” - Alveston Parish (null) (verified 2018-11-05)
• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.