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Copyright of Andrew McCann/Peter & Janet Kirk/Alf Beard

St John the Baptist's Church,
Main Street / Church Lane,
Chelmorton, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1111, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes Chelmorton as a parish in the Western division of the county, hundred of High Peak, rural district, petty sessional division and county court district of Bakewell, rural deanery of Buxton, 5 miles south-east from Buxton station on the London, Midland and Scottish railway, and 8 west from Bakewell. "Illy Willy water rises on the hill called the Lowe, and passing through the village, disappears in a swallow in the limestone and runs underground a long distance before it again appears".

St John the Baptist is described as "an ancient edifice of stone, with traces of Saxon and Norman work, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of four bays, aisles, south transept, porch and a western tower with octagonal spire containing 4 bells". There is an ancient octagonal stone font and monuments to George Dale of Flagg (1683), Roger Goodwin (1688) and to the families of Bullock of Ashford (1800), Wieldon of Buxton (1810) and Swann of Hurdlow Hall (1740).

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/449/1/13/21) describes it as the Church of an ancient Chapelry - Parish of Bakewell, and "supposed to be dedicated to St John the Baptist ... supposed to have been built AD. 1111". The estimated congregation on March 30th was 68 in the afternoon, with 22 Sunday Scholars. The return was completed by James Coates, "Minister", who gave his address as "near Bakewell, Derbyshire". Although he gave an average congregation of 130, and 40 Sunday Scholars over the last 12 months, he was prompted to add that the "Average number of attendants of Church during the Summer months each year [was] 150 Adults".

The parish register dates from 1590, and (says Kelly) is in good condition. The living was (in 1932) a vicarage, with 9 acres of glebe and residence (built in 1842), in the gift of the vicar of Bakewell, and had been held since 1905 by the Rev. Albert Holmes M.A. of Selwyn College, Cambridge. The Memorial Institute was erected to commemorate the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918.

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference SK1155870253. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St John the Baptist's Church, Chelmorton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Chelmorton shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)