Helmdon, Northamptonshire

Description
Helmdon, a large village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands near one of the sources of the river Tove, 4 1/2 miles N from Brackley, 7 SW from Towcester, and it has a station on the Northampton and Banbury Junction railway, and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Brackley. Area of the parish, 1799 acres; population, 502. The manor belongs to Worcester College, Oxford. An excellent building-stone, known as Helmdon stone, was long extensively quarried, but is now in only local request. Lace-making is carried on. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; value, £264: with residence. Patron, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The church is Decorated English, consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with a pinnacled tower rebuilt in 1823, and contains a piscina and sedilia. A very large and beautiful yew tree, which measures nearly 24 feet round the trunk, is in the churchyard. A date on a beam in the parsonage, removed from a previous parsonage, looks to be 1133, but is understood to he 1533, and gave rise to a discussion as to the earliest use of Arabic figures in England. There is a Baptist chapeL