Kelly's Directory (1886) - St Helens

St. Helen's is a large parish in the east Medina liberty and South-east Medina rural deanery, archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and diocese of Winchester, 4 miles south-east from Ryde and 10 east from Newport, finely situated on the bay called St. Helen's Road, much used in time of war as a rendezvous for the Royal Navy. It is governed by a Local Board of 12 members. The ancient church of St. Helen was situated close to the sea side, and the churchyard was so much encroached upon by the sea in the beginning of the last century as to endanger the church, which was pulled down, part of the tower, which is still standing, being left as a sea mark; the church, rebuilt in 1717, in a more elevated situation, and again re-built in the year 1831, is an edifice of red brick in the Gothic style, and consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, transepts, and a tower containing 1 bell; the chancel was rebuilt in 1862. The register dates from the year 1653. The living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £137, in the gift of Eton College to whom it was given on the dissolution of the priory by Henry V. and held since 1872 by the Rev. William Henry Richards B.A. of Jesus College, Cambridge. There are Wesleyan, Free Wesleyan and Bible Christian chapels. The village, called St. Helen's Green, and consisting of stone thatched cottages, stands about half-a-mile to the south-east of the church, and as much inland from the sea, near Brading harbour. The Priory, founded for Cluniac monks, about the year 1155, is now the residence of Henley Grose Smith esq. and is beautifully situated on the shore at the head of a spacious lawn, which gently declines from the house to the brink of a high ridge with wood to the water's edge through which various pleasant walks have been formed: the priory property was afterwards appropriated by Henry VI. and used by him for the building and endowment of Eton College. H. Grose Smith esq. is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are Lady Hutt, of Appley Towers, Ryde, H. Grose Smith esq. and Samuel William Ridley esq. The soil is chalk; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats and beans. The area is 1,883 acres of land and 954 of water and foreshore; ratebale value, £22,709: the population in 1881 was 4,343.

[Description(s) from Kelly's Directory of the Isle of Wight (1886)]