Derbyshire Churches and Chapels
Breaston St Michael (Grade I) SK460335
St Michael's began in the early C13 as a chapel within Sawley parish; expansion into the south aisle was probably later in the same century, leaving the church much as it still is. The most notable feature is the very tiny Gothic chancel arch - an obvious handicap since it reduces the choir almost to a separate room, much in the "cellular" manner of many Saxon churches. There is an elegant Derbyshire alabaster font of 1720 and a small modern organ by Church & Co (1975).
SUNDAY SERVICES: 8.00, 9.30, 6.30
CHURCH OPEN: THUR 2.30-4.30 & SAT 10.30-12.00
CONTACT: Tel: (01332) 872866 or (01332) 872753 (Churchwardens)
Dale Abbey All Saints (Grade I)
SK435381
Of the pre-Reformation abbey church of St Mary nought remains but the arch of the great east window and a few ground level fragments. Some of its furnishings have now found their way to new resting places: stained glass to Morley Church, font cover and benches to Radbourne Church, while the C15 font is in the present All Saints' Church. The latter, joined to a domestic building, was in fact a chapel on the perimeter of the Abbey precinct. It is tiny - no more than about 25 feet square - of Norman origin though with mostly Perpendicular architectural details. Its chief glory, however, is the unspoilt ensemble of early C17 interior furnishings, crammed together (as they always have been) in the most curious manner. Only 200 yards from the church is a hermit's cave which preceded the foundation of the Abbey.
SUNDAY SERVICE: 3.00
CHURCH OPEN: SAT, SUN & BH, 2.00-5.00
OPEN FOR WELL DRESSING: MAY DAY BH
KEY AVAILABLE: from Manor House, Dale Abbey village Tel: (0115) 932 0593
Publication: R Allen & I Gooding, The Abbey at Dale - a very well produced booklet with excellent colour photographs
(in village, not at church) 
(Other facilities at Gateway Centre in village - see
below)
Dale Abbey Gateway Christian Centre SK436387
This is housed in the village's former Methodist (Wesleyan) Chapel of 1902. It is available for retreats and conferences and also contains a shop for refreshments, cards, craft items, etc. As the above-mentioned booklet states: "You can be sure of a warm christian welcome when you visit Dale".
CENTRE OPEN: DAILY
Though strictly only a mission church, St Mary's actually serves the main population of the village, the old parish church being at Wilne, a mile away and in total isolation. The building is in fact a former Wesleyan chapel of 1832, in fairly standard late Georgian style with galleries at sides and back. An incongruously Gothic "chancel" was added during the Methodist era. The building came into Anglican use in 1966.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 11.00, 6.30 (October till Easter, otherwise at Wilne)
OPEN FOR COFFEE: 1ST SAT 10.00 (IN HALL)
CONTACT: Tel: (01332) 874974 or (01332) 872893 (Churchwardens)
(street)
Ilkeston Holy Trinity, Granby Street SK464427
A large, towerless Victorian town church built in 1884 in Early English style. In view of its great size and the high quality of its architecture and fittings it is most surprising to find that it has no mention in Pevsner's coverage. In recent years the nave has been partitioned to form a church hall in the western half, while below the Rood beam the congregational chairs now spread up the steps into a part of the former chancel. Happily one can still appreciate the great loftiness of the whole concept, compensating in some measure for the curtailment of the horizontal vista. Fittings, furnishings and vestments are all contemporary and of the highest order, in keeping with a major church designed for Anglo Catholic ritual. Special mention must also be made of the magnificent 1909 Harrison & Harrison organ.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 9.00, 10.30, 6.00
CHURCH OPEN: DAILY, 8.00-11.00
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 0833 (Vicar)
(street)
Ilkeston St John The Evangelist, Nottingham Road SK472408
A large, tall red brick church by Arts and Crafts architect, P H Currey (1912). It has long, slender lancet windows, no tower but a turret between nave and north transept. The chancel is particularly impressive, with the fine Keates organ (1919) perched loftily over the stalls in a cathedral-like position. The Lady Chapel is kept as a quiet area for prayer.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 8.00, 10.00, 6.00
CHURCH OPEN: WED, 9.30-12.30
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 5446 (Vicar)
Kirk Hallam All Saints, Ladywood Road (Ilkeston) (Grade I) SK458405
A small, aisleless church, mostly of C14 and C15, though with surviving Norman fragnents in the form two beakheads (preserved in the porch) and a tub-shaped font.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 9.30, 6.00
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 2402 (Priest-in-Charge)
Long Eaton St Laurence, Market Place SK492338
G E Street, in 1868, carried out a very successful enlargement in which the old nave and chancel (Norman, rebuilt C14) were retained as the south aisle of his new building. A happy result of this arrangement is that the C15 tower (and spire) is now in a SW location, allowing the nave to display a facade containing a large west window.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 8.00, 10.00, 6.00
CHURCH OPEN: DAILY - AT VARIOUS UNSPECIFIED TIMES
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 973 3154 (Vicar)
(Waverley Street, at east end of church)
Mapperley Holy Trinity SK434429
A former mining village on the edge of Shipley Country Park. The first church (1851) had to be dismantled following mining subsidence; the present one dates from 1966. It is a modern building with much use of glass though a number of older features have been incorporated, such as stained glass, some pit memorial tablets and the war memorial lychgates. Trees in the churchyard were planted by a local school for Arbor Day.
SUNDAY SERVICE: 9.30
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 4706 (Churchwarden)
(street)
Ockbrook Moravian Church & Settlement SK421362
The church cannot be considered without the Settlement of which it forms the nucleus: it must be seen as a whole. The Moravians, a pre-Reformation Protestant body established in Bohemia in the 15th century, arrived in Ockbrook in 1740 and the regular congregation was founded in 1750, followed shortly by various houses, workshops and then by the School in 1799. The whole Settlement is now designated a Conservation Area. The church itself dates from 1752 and may best be described as being in an attractive, red-brick New England Georgian style with a pretty, white cupola over the main gable facade. The interior retains its original gallery and plastered ceiling though the general layout was re-ordered during the 19th century.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 11.00, 6.30 (3.15 on 1st Sun instead of 6.30)
CONTACT: Tel: (01332) 662319 (Minister)
GUIDED TOURS OF THE SETTLEMENT: may be arranged for parties in summer time by arrangement with the Minister; tours will include a display of archive material and needlework from the Sisters' House (+ refreshments)
Publication: A McGibbon & H Todd, Ockbrook Moravian Church and Settlement
Risley All Saints, Derby Road SK461357
The conservation area sits astride the old A52 road and consists of Risley Hall (part C17), the various School buildings (early C18) together with All Saints' Church, built in 1593 and one of very few in the whole country dating from Elizabeth's reign. As built the church had a small tower and a nave with no chancel or sanctuary division. The north aisle, which projects westwards to contain the organ, was added in 1841.
SUNDAY SERVICE: 9.30
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 949 1669 (Mr Lane) or (0115) 939 5715 (Dr Lester)
(street)
Sandiacre St Giles, Church Drive (Grade I) SK480372
The present-day community of Sandiacre has grown up in an area to the south of the church, leaving the latter still in a situation of apparently rural seclusion. The church, on a high eminence, represents three important building phases - 12th century nave, 13th century spire and 14th century chancel. Inside there could not be a greater contrast than there is between the simple, aisleless Norman nave and the magnificent Decorated chancel with its great windows and original sedilia. Linking these two sections is a finely carved Norman chancel arch, some distance above which is a small triangular-headed opening - a remnant of the earlier Saxon building. At the west end, within a double case and on a purpose-built gallery, is a fine 2-manual organ by Church & Co. (1977).
SUNDAY SERVICES: 8.00, 9.30 ( + 6.30 on 1st)
KEY AVAILABLE FROM RECTORY OPPOSITE
Stanley St Andrew, Station Road SK416404
The area was once busy with the coal mining industry but has now mainly reverted to quiet rurality. Stanley, being on the edge of this area, escaped the worst excesses and still remains a country village. The church has Norman and C13 remnants but was largely rebuilt in 1875. It has a Jacobean pulpit and altar rails and there is a rare version of the royal arms of William III. In the churchyard look out for the epitaph to Luke Woodward, the village blacksmith.
SUNDAY SERVICE: 11.15
CONTACT: (0115) 932 8276 (Mr Walters)
(street)
Stanton-By-Dale St Michael & All Angels, Stanhope Street SK464381
A peaceful village on a hill overlooking the vast Stanton Ironworks complex. The nucleus of the village, now a conservation area, was developed and owned until 1912 by the Earl of Stanhope. The church is mostly of about 1300. Three windows by Kempe show scenes of the ironworks and pipe-making; in the churchyard is a memorial to a war-time bomber crew killed in the parish.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 10.45, 6.30
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 4843 or (0115) 932 9706
(street)
West Hallam St Wilfrid SK432411
The tower is C15; the body of the church is mostly C14 with considerable rebuilding in 1855. There are some Tudor monuments to the Powtrell family though the fine Elizabethan communion rail noted by Pevsner seems to have gone.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 11.00, 5.00, 6.30
CONTACT: Tel: (0115) 932 4695 (Rector)
OPEN FOR WELL DRESSING: 2ND W/E JULY
(street)
Wilne (Or Church Wilne) St Chad, Wilne Road (Grade I) SK448318
The church occupies a remote and lonely spot on the Derwent flood plain, a mile short of where this river flows into the Trent. The spacious church originally served a very large area, which included Draycott, Breaston and Risley, but the population gradually moved away from Wilne, a site that was prone to flooding. The main body of the church dates from C14 and C15. Then in 1624 came a substantial addition when the south aisle was extended to form the Willoughby family chapel with its contemporary stained glass (probably Flemish, by Van Linges) and its collection of family monuments. A bad fire in 1917 destroyed most of the interior fittings though the Willoughby Chapel survived more or less unscathed. Restoration, with new furnishings in Arts and Crafts style, was carried out under P H Currey. It is refreshing not to find evidence of Victorian "restoration" (always, in reality, something of a contradiction in terms); the work by Currey, in spite of (or perhaps because of) its originality, seems to engender much more of a mediaeval atmosphere than does the well-meaning work of many of the Victorian architects. A walk around the nearby lake may also be recommended.
SUNDAY SERVICES: 11.00 (1st only), 6.30 (Easter till Harvest)
FLOWER FESTIVAL: SUMMER BH W/E
CONTACT: Tel: (01332) 874974 or (01332) 872893 (Churchwardens)