St Helen's Church, Brant Broughton

St Helen’s Church stands in the quiet Lincolnshire village of Brant Broughton. A medieval building first raised in the 13th century, it was later given a thorough restoration between 1874 and 1876 by Canon Frederick Heathcote Sutton and architect George Frederick Bodley. Pevsner praised the church’s spire as one of the most elegant in Lincolnshire, though its height was reduced in 1897. A 2011 survey by Julian Flannery found the spire now measures 51 metres. Inside, fragments survive from the 14th century, including a damaged trinity carving and Anglo-Saxon interlace stonework. The church holds notable furnishings and artworks. Bodley added the reredos in 1887, and John Taylor of Loughborough repaired the bells in 1881. Village blacksmith F. Coldron forged the wrought-iron gates, railings, candlesticks and candelabra. A late 15th-century German painting of the Ascension hangs in the vestry, and Green Man bosses appear among the roof bosses. The organ, installed by Wordsworth and Maskell in 1876, received a new case in 1906. Outside, the churchyard contains the war grave of a Royal Armoured Corps soldier from the Second World War. The surrounding village adds to the calm atmosphere, making the church a place where history is quietly visible in stone and iron.