This church sits on a little hill not far from the Yare, in that area south of Norwich which has the largest concentration of medieval churches in Western Europe. This is partly because it was the most densely populated area of England at Domesday, but also because the very nature of the lands between the Yare and the Waveney, with rivers and creeks giving access to settlements for trading, and a network of lanes connecting fields, lent themselves to a large number of smaller landowners
St John the Baptist Church had a large amount of money lavished on it by the de Kerdiston family in the 14th century.
Major repairs and restructuring are recorded in the late 17th century after the re-establishment of the Church of England. The Manor had been in the ownership of the strongly puritan Gaudy family during the Commonwealth, and expenditure on church buildings had been looked on with some suspicion.
Hellington benefited from an extremely early 19th century restoration, a thoughtful one of about 1840 and an extremely late one that removed the more objectionable features of the first.
There appears to have been a succession of High Church Rectors here, some, ironically, members of the Denny family who had been vociferous puritans and supporters of the iconoclast William Dowsing just two centuries earlier
The most striking sight as you enter the churchyard is the porch. It is so unusual that it tends to have church historians hedging their bets. Cautley thought it interesting, Pevsner spectacular, both of which are undeniable. Decorated period porches are not unknown in this part of Norfolk, but they are unusual, and the sheer proportions of the porch, particularly against that Norman doorway and the great round tower beyond, make it an object for contemplation
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