Helpston Village

Helpston (sometimes called Helpstone) is an attractive village about 7 or 8 miles north-west of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. Prior to relatively recent boundary changes and for much of its history, Helpston was in Northamptonshire. There are currently about 300 dwellings, housing a population of around 800. Many of the buildings are of local Ketton limestone, roofed with Collyweston slate from local quarries. A number of the cottages have thatched roofs. At the central cross-roads is the heart of the village, where you can see St Botolph's Church, with it's homely, stumpy spire, an ancient Buttercross or Market Cross, a Memorial to the Poet John Clare and the village shops and Post Office. Other amenities include two pubs, the Exeter Arms and the Blue Bell, a Chapel, the John Clare Primary School and a Village Hall. Most new housing has been sympathetically designed to fit in with the existing dwellings and the Village Design Statement shows that the Parish Council and other interested parties have a clear vision of how they wish their village to develop.

Helpston is shown here in an extract from a 1787 map of Northamptonshire.
The full map can be viewed by visiting the Northamptonshire page on this website:
http://www.yourmapsonline.org.uk/

Scroll down for a modern map and more details

Helpston was summed up by Dave Porter in Cambridgeshire Life Magazine in October 2002:

The village of Helpston lies in the north west corner of Cambridgeshire, a quaint mixture of old stone cottages and barns, erected along quiet roads and sleepy back lanes, combined with more modern houses built in keeping with the character of the village. A primary school, two pubs, two churches, two 'crosses', a post office and village shop make up the majority of the village of Helpston. It is a thoroughly modern, centuries-old village steeped in life and stories. Evidence suggests that the present village is in an area that has been continuously inhabited for at least the last 4,000 years. The gravels from the near by river Welland attracted early man and the parish of Helpston contains evidence of widespread prehistoric settlement. The plan of the village, with its central green, suggests the sort of layout the Anglo Saxons favoured, the green (once a lot larger than today) would have been an enclosure for livestock, with the surrounding buildings giving protection from predatory wolves and humans alike.

This is a modern map showing Helpston
More details of the area can be viewed at:
http://www.multimap.com

Over the past two or three years I have been rediscovering Helpston, which I visited a few times as a child, but of which I have only a few vague memories, which are recorded elsewhere on this site. I have found it to be a very attractive, pleasant and seemingly peaceful village with quite a number of interesting buildings. I have taken lots of photographs, which I'm happy to share on this site. I hope you enjoy them. There is more information about ancestors and buildings to be added later, but I had to start somewhere!

I have included a little information about some of the photos, obtained from various sources, and I hope to expand on this when time allows. Apologies if any of the details are incorrect - please feel free to let me know about any errors and I'll try to put them right. Also, if you can help me by providing any further information or old photographs of the village or its inhabitants, please email me. Anyone who helps will, if they wish, receive an acknowledgement on the website.