Читать книгу Betjeman’s Best British Churches - Richard Surman - Страница 15
ОглавлениеMELBOURNE: ST MICHAEL AND ST MARY – outstanding Norman arcades, enlivened by zigzags, with rough carved cushion capitals
Derbyshire is a microcosm of England except that it has no sea. In the south it has pastoral country which merges into Leicestershire across the Trent, and here the older cottages and farms are of a dark red brick and the churches are of pale limestone. In the northern half of the county, stone never seems far from the surface, and stone of such variety of colour and quality as is found nowhere else in England.
There is the silvery white stone of the White Peak, where the drystone walls seem to take up more room than the grass in the little fields, and where the windswept farms are of a blue-grey limestone with mullions and transoms of a darker stone. There are limestones and ironstones of pale yellow, orange and brown, and great rock formations suddenly intruding into landscaped gardens such as at Chatsworth. The Saxons delighted to carve the stone into crosses, and build it into their churches, the crypt at Repton being the most perfect survival. The Normans used it for churches as at Steetley and Melbourne. And north of a line between Buxton and Chesterfield is the darker millstone grit of the High Peak.
With all this stone goes the remarkable scenery of the Peaks and Dales and of the moors of Derbyshire, a wild and windswept landscape generous enough to absorb the numerous holidaymakers and day trippers to the region. Derbyshire has been mined for lead and alabaster and Blue John and coal, and quarried for monumental stone as at Hopton Wood. It is still mined and quarried for its pure limestone, though thankfully the landscape is ample enough to accommodate the massive scars of quarries such as that at Wirksworth.
Derbyshire also has its industrial districts – the earliest are Georgian and associated with the spinning-mills of Crompton and Belper and the names of Arkwright and Strutt. On the eastern borders are the former coal districts, sooty, wire-strung and upheaved with excavations, and pitted with those sudden semi-towns one finds in neighbouring Nottinghamshire. It still has railway works at Derby and, although the iron industry is no longer, there is a major foreign presence in the car industry.
After its wonderful natural scenery and its less wonderful industrial districts, Derbyshire is chiefly a place of great houses. Chatsworth, a palace set in magnificent landscaped park and gardens, Hardwick Hall (‘more glass than wall’) and the dramatically sited castle at Bolsover are all associated with the Cavendishes. Haddon Hall, ancient and intimate, and Sudbury Hall, mellow and friendly, both belonged to the Vernons. Kedleston is the 18th-century ancestral home of the Curzons. There is also Calke, curious and remote, and the more modest hall at Melbourne in the south.
Here and there on hill-slopes are the Gothic Revival castles and abbeys of the Georgian and later industrialists, mostly now converted into institutions. In the north, too, it is a county of wells, dressed with pictures made of flowers at Whitsun and summer festivals. There are mineral springs and the hydros that go with them, the boarding-houses, conferences, conventions, kiosks, souvenirs and car parks of holidaymakers.
DETHICK: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – a 13th-century church with later tower in a splendid setting
© Michael Ellis
© Richard Surman
Churches are lower on the list of the county’s attractions than scenery and houses. Those least spoiled by Victorian restoration are private chapels – that at Haddon, with its wall-paintings, monuments and old woodwork and glass, like an untouched country church; and that at Chatsworth, sumptuous Renaissance of 1694 with marble and wood carving and a painted ceiling by Verrio. The parish churches, besides the Saxon and Norman work mentioned, are mostly small and severely restored, because there was plenty of money here in Victorian times, and the churches were generally stripped of their plaster and had their windows filled with greenish-tinted glass.
Large, cruciform 13th-century churches are at Ashbourne, Bakewell and Wirksworth. Grand 14th-century work is at Chesterfield, Tideswell, Norbury, Sandiacre and Whitwell. Spires are not typical of Derbyshire; the best is at Breadsall. Perpendicular 15th-century architecture, so common in the rest of England, is rare here, and the tower of Derby All Saints is its noblest expression. Several churches were built in the troubled century following the Reformation, still Gothic in style, at Risley and Foremark.
The 18th century produced much good wrought-iron work, particularly that of Robert Bakewell. Gibbs’ design for All Saints, Derby, 1723–6, now the Cathedral, is the most distinguished Classical church in the county, and there are a few unrestored chapels of great charm. The 19th-century churches of Derbyshire are not of first rank; the best are Sir George Gilbert Scott’s work at Edensor, the more individual and un-Derbyshire church at Bamford by Butterfield and, by the local Derby firm of Stevens and Robinson, the grand estate church at Osmaston and the more individual St Luke’s, Derby.
In the last century, another Derby firm, Currey and Thompson, are worth looking out for, especially at St Mary the Virgin, Buxton.
ASHBOURNE: ST OSWALD – partially mutilated figures on the sides of the Bradbournes’ tomb in the north transept’s Boothby Chapel
ASHBOURNE † St Oswald
13m/21km N.W. of Derby
OS SK176464 GPS 53.0150N, 1.7387W
Approached through 18th-century wrought-iron gates from Church Street, with its 16th-century grammar school and 18th-century houses, the graceful church has an attractive setting on the edge of town, and a breathtaking tower and spire. The chancel is Early English, dedicated in 1241, with noble lancet windows. Other parts are Decorated, and there are great Perpendicular windows. The whole building has a curious irregularity, but ever-changing vistas. The S. aisle is so wide that it appears as a second nave. There is plenty of Victorian stained glass and Arts and Crafts glass in a S. aisle window, 1905. Monuments, mostly in the N. transept, include the little girl Penelope Boothby, 1781, whose portraits became famous as a symbol of innocence.
ASHOVER † All Saints
6m/10km S.W. of Chesterfield
OS SK348631 GPS 53.1641N, 1.4799W
The church is beautifully placed among trees, the E. end framing the view at the end of the broad village street, with the characteristic Derbyshire outline – low and embattled, its tower with a spire set behind battlements. The church is mainly of the 14th and 15th centuries, the spire and rood screen given by the Babingtons. There are good alabaster tombs and brasses, and a lovely Norman lead font with figures in an arcade.
AULT HUCKNALL † St John the Baptist
5m/8km N.W. of Mansfield
OS SK467652 GPS 53.1822N, 1.3020W
In the winter the boastful towers of Hardwick Hall can be seen a mile to the S. The churchyard is nicely cluttered and random, and the church picturesque in its varied outline. Although Norman in origin, externally all is Perpendicular, while the inside is dark and holy, with a Norman arcade and crossing arches, and a very narrow, possibly Saxon, arch opening into the small chancel. In the W. wall outside is set a Norman carved tympanum depicting St George and the Dragon, and St Margaret emerging from the body of the Devil. There is a fine monument to the first Countess of Devonshire, 1627, and a memorial to Thomas Hobbes, the philosopher. William Butterfield restored the church in 1885–8, and furnished it excellently.
BAKEWELL † All Saints
7m/11km N.W. of Matlock
OS SK215684 GPS 53.2130N, 1.6787W
Well set above this ancient town and crowned by a distinctive octagonal crossing tower and spire, the church was originally Norman and on a grand scale – see the fragmentary blank arcade at the W. end. The rest is 13th- and 14th-century, but was rebuilt (not well) in the 19th century. There is much to see inside: a rare medieval wall-monument to Godfrey Foljambe and wife, c. 1385, and interesting Vernon monuments. There is important Saxon sculpture, including the handsome early 9th-century churchyard cross, and an interesting jumble of fragments in the S. porch.
BONSALL † St James
2m/3km S.W. of Matlock
OS SK279581 GPS 53.1196N, 1.5833W
Perched on a hill above the stone village, which has a fine cross in its marketplace, the church is embattled and pinky-grey, the spire a flight of fancy. The exterior is largely rebuilt, but inside are tall 13th-century arcades, the N. slightly later than the S. The stone is silvery, the walls cream-plastered, the texture and colour soft everywhere.
BRASSINGTON † St James
4m/6km W. of Wirksworth
OS SK230543 GPS 53.0857N, 1.6577W
In a commanding position at the top of the stone-built village, the church is basically Norman, with additional work in the 14th century and much restoration in the 19th. The S. arcade is especially fine, with circular piers, waterleaf and scalloped capitals. The W. tower is refaced. Otherwise it is mostly 19th-century and somewhat harsh, but with some good detailing.
BREADSALL † All Saints
2m/3km N.E. of Derby
OS SK371397 GPS 52.9543N, 1.4491W
The fine steeple is a landmark across the broad Derwent Valley north of Derby. The early 13th-century tower is four-square and plain, with an elegant 14th-century spire. There are handsome S. windows to the 14th-century nave. W. D. Caroe restored the church well in 1915 after fire damage by suffragettes the previous year.
BUXTON † St Mary the Virgin
7m/13km E. of Macclesfield
OS SK059729 GPS 53.2536N, 1.9130W
Built in 1914–15 by the Derby Arts and Crafts architects Currey and Thompson, the church is original and attractive, with pretty eyebrow dormers rather than a clerestory in the sweeping roof. Within are good contemporary furnishings.
CASTLETON † St Edmund
10m/16km W. of Sheffield
OS SK150829 GPS 53.3428N, 1.7757W
Standing in the middle of a close-knit village, in the lee of Peveril Castle, is this church with 14th-century tower. The nave is something of a surprise, shorn of its aisles in 1831, giving the appearance of a Commissioners’ church of the period. The 19th-century Gothic porch is charming, leading to a plain plastered interior with Norman chancel arch and 17th-century box pews.
CHESTERFIELD
† St Mary and All Saints
St Mary's Gate, 10m/16km S. of Sheffield
OS SK385711 GPS 53.2362N, 1.4244W
St Mary and All Saints is a town church on a prodigious scale; cruciform, with long nave and chancel, flanked by various chapels, it reflects the wealth of the town’s guilds. Its crooked spire of timber and lead, which long since warped into its present ungainly shape, is a landmark from all around. The crossing was dedicated in 1234, but most of the church dates from 100 years later. The interior – lofty, spacious and elegant – has a 14th-century nave of six bays with tall, graceful columns, and appears almost sophisticated after the Norman homespun of many Derbyshire churches. In the Lady Chapel are alabaster tombs of the Foljambes – strange, fascinating and of delicate workmanship. Everywhere there are rich furnishings: medieval screens, a Jacobean pulpit and exquisite 18th-century candelabra of wrought iron. The stained glass is by Sir Ninian Comper and Christopher Webb.
CHURCH WILNE † St Chad
6m/10km S.W. of Derby
OS SK448318 GPS 52.8822N, 1.3343W
The church is set in meadows by the Derwent, with the well of St Chad nearby. A substantial three-stage tower with a stair turret seems to grow out of the upper part. The church is mostly 14th-century, the S. aisle extended eastward in 1622, and all is tied together by 15th-century battlements. The nave and aisles are spacious and light, having wide three-light lancet windows and clear glass, in contrast to the 17th-century Willoughby Chapel, which takes its sombre colour from the original Flemish glass. The church was restored by Currey and Thompson after a fire in 1917, and has some of their Arts and Crafts furnishings. There are bad but amusing alabaster monuments and, in the churchyard, good 17th- and 18th-century slate headstones.
CRICH † St Mary
4m/7km E. of Wirksworth
OS SK348546 GPS 53.0880N, 1.4818W
Externally a handsome if standard composition, with pleasant unrestored Decorated tracery, a Perpendicular W. tower and Norman nave. There is a rare stone lectern in the N. wall of the chancel, a massive Norman font and monuments in the chancel. The organ pipes, now no longer used, are housed in a fine casing.
DALBURY † All Saints
6m/9km W. of Derby
OS SK263342 GPS 52.9053N, 1.609W
A narrow lane leads to a farming hamlet with a small church at the end, 13th-century in origin, though heavily restored in the 19th century. At the W. end is a sweet little castellated tower like a toy castle, and a loveable interior with box pews and late 17th-century font and pulpit of 1862.
DALE ABBEY † All Saints
5m/8km N.E. of Derby
OS SK437385 GPS 52.9429N, 1.3506W
Romantically set in a secluded valley beyond the village, near the ruined arch of the 12th-century abbey with a hermitage close by, this tiny church and farmhouse coexist under one roof and are pleasant to behold. The interior is a delight – minute and higgledy-piggledy, with box pews, a gallery in the roof, a ‘cupboard’ altar, and a pulpit dated 1634. There is a late 13th-century mural of the Annunciation, Visitation and Nativity.
DERBY † St Mary’s Bridge Chapel
Duke Street
OS SK353367 GPS 52.9271N, 1.4758W
A picturesque view from across the river has been unforgiveably compromised by Derby’s inner ring road, which has been routed to within a hair’s breadth of the chapel. Nonetheless, it is one of only five surviving bridge chapels, dating from the 14th century and later.
DERBY † St Mary RC
Between St Alkmunds Way and Darley Lane
OS SK351367 GPS 52.9274N, 1.4790W
Following the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church was designed and built in 1838–9 by A. W. N. Pugin, who was newly converted to Roman Catholicism. Unusually it is set on a north–south line. Pugin lamented the uncanonical necessity of this, imposed by constraints of the site. The whole building is imposing and very correct Perpendicular. The Gothic W. tower, with ornamented finials, has a fine window. The sanctuary is apsidal, and its lofty archway is echoed by a curved rood. The Lady Chapel, as large as a modest country church nave, was added in 1853 by Joseph Hansom – he of the Hansom Cab. There is stained glass by Hardman; the general effect is elegant and dignified.
DETHICK † St John the Baptist
2m/3km S.E. of Matlock
OS SK327579 GPS 53.1179N, 1.5127W
In a fine position on a hill over Cromford, the remarkable W. tower, modest in scale but lavish in detail, was built by Sir Anthony Babington in the 1530s; it has a curious stair turret which rises above the rest. There is a clerestory, but no aisles. The manor house has gone, but a 16th-century tithe barn remains.
DALE ABBEY: ALL SAINTS – the church adjoins a farmhouse that, in the past, served as an infirmary and later as the Blue Bell Inn; the church interior is a ramshackle delight
DOVERIDGE † St Cuthbert
2m/3km E. of Uttoxeter
OS SK113341 GPS 52.9042N, 1.8322W
St Cuthbert is approached beneath the cover of a venerable yew and set in the former grounds of the demolished manor hall. The 13th-century work is memorable – a tall chancel and massive W. tower, the spire a 14th-century addition. The rest is mostly 14th-century too. The absence of a chancel arch or screen adds to the spaciousness of the interior.
ECKINGTON † St Peter and St Paul
6m/10km N.E. of Chesterfield
OS SK432797 GPS 53.3132N, 1.3530W
The church is distinguished by a massive tower, c. 1300, with a round-arched W. doorway, lancet windows, and low, thick-set 14th-century spire. The Classical S. aisle and porch, 1763, are by John Platt. Inside, too, there is history in stone. The E. bays of the nave arcades date from the late 12th century, the rest 13th; the N. aisle 14th and 15th; the chancel Classical also – but turned Gothic again in 1907.
EDENSOR † St Peter
2m/3km E. of Bakewell
OS SK250699 GPS 53.2256N, 1.6260W
Sir George Gilbert Scott rebuilt this in 1867 for the 7th Duke of Devonshire; it is set in a pretty model village in Chatsworth Park and provides an impressive essay in the Early English style with its tall spire and interior with Hardman glass. The alabaster pulpit is supported on black and red local marble, also used for the sedilia and font. On the W. wall is a massive florid monument to William, 1st Earl of Devonshire, d. 1625, and Henry Cavendish, d. 1616. The W. window is by Hardman and a fine example of his glass.
EYAM † St Lawrence
5m/8km N. of Bakewell
OS SK217764 GPS 53.2843N, 1.6749W
Eyam is famous as the village that halted the plague in 1666, when the village closed itself to the outside world. The Mompesson chair in St Lawrence’s chancel commemorates the event – it is named after the rector at the time of the plague, who convinced the villagers to quarantine themselves to prevent the disease spreading. The 13th-century chancel was restored by Street in 1868-9. There is a huge sundial of 1775, 16th- and 17th-century wall-paintings, and texts on the nave walls. An 8th-century cross is in the churchyard. Look for the wonderful tombstone to the cricketer Harry Bagshawe, showing stumps flying and the umpire’s finger pointing to heaven.
FOREMARK † St Saviour
6m/10km S. of Derby
OS SK329264 GPS 52.8348N, 1.5120W
Built by Sir Francis Burdett, 1662, in his park at Foremark Hall, this is a Gothic church without, except for window-spacing and some strapwork, but completely Renaissance within. The furnishings are original, neither Gothic nor Carolean, but rather the Jacobean style of 50 years earlier. They include a screen, triple-decker pulpit, box pews and a wrought-iron communion rail by Robert Bakewell, c. 1710.
HARTINGTON † St Giles
9m/15km N. of Ashbourne
OS SK129604 GPS 53.1413N, 1.8077W
Raised above the spreading village, the large cruciform church straddles the mound on which it sits, with proud, ashlar-faced tower looking out over the roof-tops. Inside there are vistas through arcades and into transepts, and a sense of interconnecting parts making up the whole.
HASSOP † All Saints RC
3m/5km N. of Bakewell
OS SK223723 GPS 53.2474N, 1.6666W
By Joseph Ireland, 1816–18, for Francis Eyre of Hassop Hall, the church is unusual and unexpected in this little hamlet – an Etruscan temple in the Peak District. With echoes of Inigo Jones’s Covent Garden church St Paul’s, it has a monumental and rather severe W. portico over which sits a disproportionately overhung roof. The interior is gentler and more ornate, with an early 19th-century chamber organ in the W. gallery and an elaborate altar of French origin.
KEDLESTON † All Saints
4m/6km N.W. of Derby
OS SK312403 GPS 52.9592N, 1.5367W
Churches Conservation Trust
The old village was moved, but the medieval church still stands cheek by jowl with the grand 18th-century hall by Robert Adam. It is essentially a late 13th-century cruciform church, with crossing tower and transepts, Norman S. doorway and a Classical E. end. The memorial chapel to Lady Mary Curzon, Vicereine of India, was added by Bodley in 1907–13. The Curzon family monuments include effigies designed by Robert Adam and Michael Rysbrack and span some 700 years.
MARSTON-ON-DOVE † St Mary
4m/6km N. of Burton upon Trent
OS SK233296 GPS 52.8637N, 1.6551W
St Mary sits in a flat plain near the confluence of the Dove and the Trent. It has a fine recessed 14th-century steeple, 13th-century chancel and 14th-century nave. The interior is spacious, as the N. aisle was given an upper storey in the 15th century. The 19th-century organ came from Sudbury Hall. The church has the oldest bell in the county, cast in 1366.
MELBOURNE
† St Michael and St Mary
7m/11km S. of Derby
OS SK389249 GPS 52.8211N, 1.4242W
A singularly ambitious cruciform Norman church of c. 1130 with twin W. towers and taller crossing tower and lofty stone-vaulted narthex. Traces of the original apses can be seen at the E. end. The Norman bishops of Carlisle made this their seat when their own city was threatened by the Scots, and it reflects their status. An austere and noble interior is rich with Norman carving, with monumental circular piers, stilted arches, and much zigzag. The crossing is even better: carved capitals depicting the ‘Melbourne Cat’ and a Sheela-na-Gig. Fragments of paintings can be seen on the W. piers.
REPTON: ST WYSTAN – the alabaster figure of a 14th-century knight at the north-east end of the nave, by the stairway to the crypt
MONYASH † St Leonard
4m/6km W. of Bakewell
OS SK151664 GPS 53.1951N, 1.7748W
Beneath the high moors, the church is built of attractive contrasting stone. It is cruciform, though on a small scale, the N. transept being originally a chantry. Of the 13th and 14th century, the earliest features are the chancel arch, sedilia and piscina. Butterfield restored the church in 1887, rebuilding the N. transept on its old foundations. The 10ft-long parish chest is believed to be from the 13th century.
MORLEY † St Matthew
4m/6km N.E. of Derby
OS SK396409 GPS 52.9643N, 1.4109W
A spired country church among lawns and trees outside the village, with an attractive 18th-century rectory. W. of the church is the beautiful Bateman Mausoleum, 1897, by G. F. Bodley. Inside, there is golden light and much texture. The S. nave arcade is Norman; the rest 14th- and 15th-century. The glass, from Dale Abbey, was made in 1482. Fascinating brasses, monuments and incised slabs tell 500 years of family history, mainly of the Stathums, Sacheverells and Babingtons; Katherine Babington, d. 1543, is the best.
NORBURY † St Mary and St Barlok
4m/6km S.W. of Ashbourne
OS SK125423 GPS 52.9788N, 1.8145W
This small church occupies a quiet, leafy setting above the River Dove, close by the manor with its late 13th-century hall. The church has a splendid 14th-century chancel – spacious and wide, with the windows fine and tall. Much of the original glass survives, with patterns and heraldry in grisaille and soft colours. In the chancel are altar tombs of the Fitzherberts, with good effigies and enchanting figures of weepers; a bedesman sits under Sir Ralph’s foot.
REPTON: ST WYSTAN – the Saxon crypt, with vaulted ceiling and barley-twist pillars
RADBOURNE † St Andrew
4m/6km W. of Derby
OS SK286359 GPS 52.9206N, 1.5760W
St Andrew’s is in Radbourne Park and has a fine old yew tree in the churchyard. Small and mainly of the 13th and 14th centuries, there is a mixture on the S. side of Tudor windows and an 18th-century porch. The zigzagged sedilia has a bishop’s crozier marked on the shaft. The medieval benches came from Dale Abbey. Pole monuments and hatchments are proudly displayed.
REPTON † St Wystan
5m/8km N.E. of Burton upon Trent
OS SK303271 GPS 52.8412N, 1.5516W
A graceful spire marks this fine church, which sits by an old priory arch leading to the school – a satisfying group in a pleasant country town with market cross. The church has all types of architecture from the 8th century to the 15th, but the most exciting part is the Saxon chancel and, beneath it, the crypt, discovered accidentally in the 18th century. Winding stairways lead down to the crypt; it has a rough stone vault and pillars wreathed with barley twists.
RISLEY † All Saints
2m/3km N.W. of Long Eaton
OS SK461357 GPS 52.9168N, 1.3158W
Of curious and delightful appearance, there is some confusion over the actual dates of All Saints. Suffice it to say that the church owes its existence to the Willoughby family who lived in Risley Hall from the 16th century. The tower, topped with outside crocketed pinnacles, has a tipsy lean. The N. aisle and vestry were added in the 1841 restoration. Inside are hatchments and painted commandment boards.
SANDIACRE † St Giles
2m/3km N. of Long Eaton
OS SK480372 GPS 52.9307N, 1.2873W
Set on a hill, with the industry of the Erewash valley below, the church has a memorable silhouette – a high Norman nave and still higher Decorated chancel of almost cathedral proportions, with tall pinnacled buttresses. Inside, the same contrast; the simple whitewashed nave, robust Norman chancel arch, and breathtaking chancel, bathed in light, with star and leaf shapes in the tracery, and richly ornamented sedilia and piscina.
SAWLEY † All Saints
Adjoins Long Eaton, 7m/13km S.E. of Derby
OS SK472313 GPS 52.8777N, 1.2994W
An avenue of limes leads from the main road to this church, which stands on a small rise by the river. It is mostly 13th- and 14th-century with Perpendicular flourishes. The dignified Perpendicular chantry chapel, like a domestic bay window, is panelled and vaulted inside, with the tomb of John Bothe, d. 1496.
TIDESWELL: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – 19th-century carving of Zacharias, John’s father
STEETLEY † All Saints Chapel
2m/3km W. of Worksop
OS SK543787 GPS 53.3027N, 1.1858W
J. L. Pearson brought this astonishingly complete showpiece of a small Norman church of nave, chancel and apse back to life. Built about 1160, it was left roofless after the Commonwealth, standing alone in the fields. Inside, the vaulted apse, lavishly decorated nave and chancel arches, the capitals scalloped, or carved with leaves, animals and people, all create a delight that J. Charles Cox described as ‘the most perfect and elaborate specimen of Norman architecture to be found anywhere in Europe’.
TADDINGTON † St Michael
5m/8km W. of Bakewell
OS SK141711 GPS 53.2373N, 1.7898W
The moor drops down sharply to the church and village and the Dale below. This handsome church with spire is largely 14th-century with an impressive chancel and E. window; the interior is scraped. A stone lectern is built into the chancel wall.
TIDESWELL: ST JOHN THE BAPTIST – the magnificent carving of the chancel stalls in the late 19th century was the work of Suffolk craftsmen from Bury St Edmunds
TIDESWELL † St John the Baptist
6m/10km E. of Buxton
OS SK152757 GPS 53.2787N, 1.7726W
‘The Cathedral of the Peak’, sheltered in a hollow on the bleak moors, is a grand and inspiring church of the 14th century. The Perpendicular tower has character, with immense turrets and pinnacles, and the fine chancel compares with Ashbourne, Norbury and Sandiacre. The Perpendicular style allowed for large windows and light to flood in – at its very best with an autumnal or late winter sun. A fine stone screen stands behind the altar, with canopied niches, and, at the W. end of the chancel, is a mighty arch into the nave and a great panelled window; interesting tombs and brasses vie with 19th-century Suffolk joinery and delightful 20th-century bench-ends by local carvers Advent and Hunstone.
TISSINGTON † St Mary
4m/6km N. of Ashbourne
OS SK176522 GPS 53.0674N, 1.7381W
A Jacobean manor house, grey stone cottages, triangular green and five wells (dressed with flower mosaics on Ascension Day), form a perfect feudal village setting for the church, which, with a sturdy Norman tower, stands on a bank in the midst. The interior had too much restoration in 1854. There is an extravagant 1643 Fitzherbert monument with ladies in Jacobean dress that cuts off part of the chancel arch – no doubt here about what was considered the more important. There is also a two-decker pulpit and a Norman font with incised creatures.
TRUSLEY † All Saints
6m/10km W. of Derby
OS SK253355 GPS 52.9166N, 1.6243W
Approached along a grassy path, the small Georgian brick church of 1713, together with the old hall and manor house, forms one side of this small village. The interior is delightfully all of a piece with communion rails, three-decker pulpit, box pews and font.
WESTON-ON-TRENT † St Mary
6m/10km S.E. of Derby
OS SK397275 GPS 52.8444N, 1.4110W
Alone among trees by the river, St Mary’s is small and mostly 13th-century. The nave and aisles are wide rather than long with very tall, slim pillars, unexpectedly dignified and impressive. An embattled and buttressed tower supports a recessed spire. Inside is a Jacobean pulpit and fragments of a monument to Richard Sale in the gruesome taste of the early 17th century – a skeleton with hour-glass, pick and shovel. The 18th-century timber-framed porch adds a domestic touch.
WHITWELL † St Lawrence
4m/6km S.W. of Worksop
OS SK526768 GPS 53.2858N, 1.2121W
Pleasantly placed by open farmland on the edge of a once pretty village, now surrounded by a landscape shaped by coal mining. The core of the church – W. tower, S. doorway, nave and clerestory – is Norman. The interior is a delight, light and cheerful with whitewashed walls and an absence of stained glass. The chancel arch is round, but with keeled shafts, preparing one for the Decorated chancel with rich sedilia; the transepts are Decorated too. Altogether it is a rewarding building, full of texture and interest, set in an attractive graveyard and fortunately not spoiled by too much tidying up.
WIRKSWORTH † St Mary
4m/6km S. of Matlock
OS SK287539 GPS 53.0819N, 1.5723W
A grey market town with a maze of steep, winding streets and ‘ginnels’ (passageways), and set below some cruel quarries, Wirksworth clawed its way back from dusty semi-dereliction to being a fine town with a thriving cultural life. The town’s large cruciform church, dating from the 13th century, was much added to and restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1876. It is at the hub of the town, set in a graveyard enclosed by railings and surrounded by a ring of houses, rather like a miniature cathedral close. The interior is impressive, with lovely vistas. An exceptionally interesting 9th-century or even earlier coffin lid sculpted with scenes from the gospels is displayed on the N. wall of the nave. On the W. wall is a carved figure of a leadminer with pick and kibble. There are two fonts – one Norman, one 17th-century – brasses and good monuments.
YOULGREAVE † All Saints
3m/4km S. of Bakewell
OS SK212643 GPS 53.1760N, 1.6842W
The massive, stately Perpendicular tower stands four-square to the winds of the Peak. Inside is a wide Norman nave, a particularly impressive S. arcade and fine Norman carving. The font of c. 1200 has a separate holy-water stoup supported by a salamander. There are two delightful alabaster monuments; a miniature tomb chest to Sir Thomas Cokayne, d. 1488, with effigy only 3½ feet long, and a panel of great charm to Robert Gylbert, d. 1492, who stands with his wife and 17 children and the Virgin and Child in their midst. The fine E. window is by Burne-Jones. Opposite the S. door is an early carved pilgrim figure, set into the wall.
