Betjeman’s Best British Churches. Richard Surman

      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