Visit-a-Church
Key Image St Helen’s Chapel
69 Maidenburgh St
CO1 1TT Colchester
United Kingdom
Denomination: Greek Orth.
Congregation: Orthodox Parish of St Helen (Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland)
Geogr. Coordinates: 51.89124° N, 0.90163° E
Geo Location
Reference year: 900
Architectural style: Anglosaxon
Building type: Chapel
Description: Anglosaxon chapel built on the foundations of a Roman theatre; nowadays the Greek Orthodox parish church
Name derivation: From St Helen
History:
10th cent.:   Construction of the chapel (possibly even as early as the 8th or 9th c.)
1076:   Restoration by the Norman lord Eudo Dapifer
1539:   Secularisation during the Reformation; in further use as a school, library, workshop etc.
18th cent.:   In use as the Quaker “Little Meeting House“
1886:   Restoration (architect William Butterfield)
1996:   Foundation of the Orthodox Parish of St Helen
Nov 2000:   Worship in the chapel resumes under the Orthodox liturgy
Important persons:
Architect:  Butterfield, William (1814–1900, English architect of the Gothic Revival)
Patron:  Helena (249–329, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine (remembered in the Roman Catholic church on August 18th, in the Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches on May 21st))
Sources
Orthodox Parish of St Helen: St Helen's Chapel – The history of an ancient, lovely and holy Temple, http://orthodoxcolchester.org.uk/chapel.htm, retrieved 24/01/2021
Orthodox Parish of St Helen: St Helen’s Chapel (information leaflet)
© 2024
TuK Bassler
CC-BY-SA 4.0