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In the shadow of Ashby’s ruined castle stands its spiritual twin: the magnificent, Grade I listed St Helen’s Church.
Their histories are inextricably linked, born of the same ambition and built by the same powerful hand.
While the castle speaks of secular power and military might, the church tells a quieter but no less compelling story of faith, community, and the fascinating lives of the people who shaped the town.
To step inside is to open a library of stories written in stone, wood, and alabaster.
A Shared Vision of Power
A place of worship has stood on this site since before the Norman Conquest, with a priest at Ashby recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.
But the church we see today is largely the vision of one man: William, Lord Hastings. In 1474, at the very same time he was transforming his manor into a formidable castle, Hastings began a huge rebuilding of the parish church.
This was no coincidence. For a man of his status, demonstrating piety was as important as demonstrating power.
The castle and church were a unified project, designed to stamp his authority on every aspect of life in Ashby.
The result is a glorious example of 15th-century Perpendicular Gothic architecture, with a grand west tower, a beautiful Tudor roof, and a nave that is unusually wider than it is long, a feature created by the addition of outer aisles in the 19th century.
The Treasures Within
The church is filled with historical treasures, each with a story to tell.
The Hastings Chapel
This is the church’s heart, and it serves as the Hastings family’s vault.
In 1529, the family’s title was elevated when William, Lord Hastings’ grandson was made the Earl of Huntingdon.
The chapel houses the splendid alabaster tomb of Francis, the 2nd Earl of Huntingdon, and his wife, dating from around 1561.
The detail is exquisite, with small figures of mourners, each one unique, carved around the base of the tomb. Generations of the family are buried here, right up to the 14th Earl in 1939, the last of the Hastings line to be interred at St Helen’s.
The Countess of Huntingdon
A memorial in the chancel commemorates one of the most influential women of the 18th century, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.
Born Selina Shirley, she married Theophilus, the 9th Earl of Huntingdon, in 1728. After a profound religious conversion, she became a formidable figure and leader in the 18th-century Evangelical Revival, a contemporary of John Wesley and George Whitefield.
She used her immense wealth and influence to found 64 chapels and a theological college in Wales to train new ministers.
Her piety was practical as well as public; she was known for her compassion, even visiting debt prisons and paying to restore prisoners to their families.
She created an entire evangelical movement known as the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion and is buried here in the Hastings family vault.
Robert Mundi’s Bargain
Against the west wall is a wonderful incised alabaster slab for Robert Mundi, a prosperous local tailor who died in 1526, flanked by his two wives.
In his will, Mundi left a house to the church in exchange for a priest to say a requiem for the souls of him and his wives in perpetuity—a fascinating glimpse into the faith of the era.
A Rare Punishment
Tucked away at the west end is a rare and curious artifact: a finger pillory. Unlike the public humiliation of the stocks, this device was used to punish minor miscreants inside the church, immobilising them by trapping their fingers.
Baroque Splendour
The church also boasts a high-quality wooden reredos behind the altar, dating to 1679, and a magnificent brass candelabrum hanging in the centre aisle, donated in 1733.
From its ancient foundations to its Victorian additions, St Helen’s is more than just a beautiful building. It is a chronicle of Ashby itself, a place where the stories of powerful lords, influential women, and ordinary townspeople are preserved for all to see.
After the castle and the church, why not take a look at what put Ashby De La Zouch on the map. Read How a Novel Invented a Town: The Story of Ivanhoe and the Ashby Spa
English (US) · 