St Helen and St Giles is a church and

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of Rainham and is the oldest building in the London Borough of Havering (being

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

). The church retains many of its original features, for example the round-headed

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

es. It was founded by

Richard de Lucy Richard de Luci (or Lucy; 1089 – 14 July 1179) was first noted as High Sheriff of Essex, after which he was made Chief Justiciar of England. Biography His mother was Aveline, the niece and heiress of William Goth. In the charter for Sées Ca ...

, the son-in-law of Henry II of England. de Lucy was also one of the instigators of the assassination of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170. Construction of the church took place between 1160 and 1170. The church was

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during the period of 1893–1906, using donations from the Freemasons, yet it is still thought to closely resemble its original condition. The Rectory Manor, also known as Parsonage Farm, was initially part of Rainham Manor, but in 1178

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granted it to Lesnes Abbey, which owned it until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when it was conveyed to

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

. After Wolsey's fall the Rectory Manor fell to Sir Robert Southwell, and eventually to a group of five Londoners. In 1714 Rectory Manor was reunited with Jordans Manor by William Blackborrne of Hornchurch, who left the two manors to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

barrister Levett Blackborne, grandson of Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London. On Levett Blackborne's death, the combined manor was sold to the Crosse family of Berwick manor, who owned it into the twentieth century, when it was broken up for development.A History of the County of Essex: Volume 7, Victoria County History, W.R. Powell (editor), pp. 126-134, 1978, British History Online, british-history.ac.uk
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Helen and Saint Giles Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Havering Grade I listed churches in London Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Havering