ST. HELEN’S.
"Leaving Sea View by the road to the southward, the visitor passes through Nettlestone to St. Helens, a parish which includes Sea View, Spring Vale, and St. John’s on the confines of Ryde borough. The village itself is about four miles south-east of Ryde, and is ecclesiastically described as in the East Medina liberty and the south-east Medina Rural Deanery, Archdeaconry of the Isle of Wight and Diocese of Winchester. It is on the bay of St. Helen’s Roads, famous as a rendezvous for British warships in times of naval troubles and wars. Rymer states that a writ issued in 1337, bearing the title, "The King’s Writ to the Mayors and Bailiffs of Yarmouth and St. Helen’s, in the Isle of Wight, for sending their ships to Portsmouth." The Island contributed 13 ships and 220 men in time of war. St. Helen’s was invaded by the French on two separate occasions. In the first instance in 1340, and subsequently in the time of Bluff Henry VIII. At Nettlestone a wall letter box is cleared at 11 a.m. and 7.10 p.m. No collection of letters on Sundays.
The parish, covering an area of 3,676 acres, was made into a Local Board district in July, 1872, and the Board is comprised of 12 members. Close to the sea and overlooking the mouth of Brading Harbour is to be seen the tower of the ancient Parish Church. It was a cell to a Cluniac Abbey in Normandy, North of France. Edward the III. seized the revenues of the inmates, treating them as aliens, but these were restored by the fourth Henry. In 1303 the Church was appropriated to the Prior, being valued at 30 marks. Henry VI. gave the rent to Eton Collage, and Edward IV. added the Priory, and transferred both to Windsor College, though at the dissolution they were restored to Eton. The old Church was in danger of being washed away by the encroaching sea, and was partially removed in the early years of the present century, the tower, whitened seaward, being left as a landmark. The new church was built in 1717, and enlarged in 1831, the chancel being re-built in 1862. It is capable of accommodating 300 worshippers. The Church contains monuments of the Grose family (including Sir Nash Grose, the Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, 1814, and one to his only son, who was mortally wounded at Waterloo.
The Wesleyans, Bible Christians, and Jubilee Free Wesleyans also have Chapels at St. Helen’s.
Of late years a golf link on the St. Helen’s side of the harbour has been a great attraction, and must have increased immensely the importance of the place in the estimation of golfers. St. Helens also has a railway station, the second from either Bembridge or Brading on the small line connecting these two places.
Letters delivered at 7.45 a.m. and 1.50 p.m., and dispatched at 10.35 a.m. and 6.45 p.m. " {Bembridge}
The Minerva Isle of Wight Pictorial and Guide - circa 1900