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St John the Baptist's Church,
Croxall Road,
Croxall, 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 about 1200, and we understand it is still open.

Croxall was transferred to Staffordshire in 1894. It is recorded on the British Listed Buildings website under the parish of Edingale. Their account notes that the earliest remains of St John the Baptist's Church are c.1200, but it was largely rebuilt in the later 13th century.

Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire of 1896 has a lengthy description, and records that St John's is "a building of grey sandstone, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a low western tower containing one bell of a tall narrow shape and of some antiquity". There was formerly also a south aisle, the built-up arcade of which is distinctly traceable, and which probably formed a chapel once appropriated to the Curzons. The chancel, chiefly Decorated work of the 14th century, has a low side window 23 by 18 inches on the south side; the tower is also of this period, but in the succeeding century considerable alterations were made and Perpendicular windows with embattled transoms inserted.

On the floor of the chancel is a large slab with the incised figures of a man in plate armour with a pointed helmet, and his lady, as well as some shields of arms, and a marginal inscription to Thomas Curson esq, and his wife Margaret (1485). A slab with figures of two of his children, John and Mary lies in front of the communion table. Against the east wall are the remains of the tombstone of John Curson and his wife Anna, dated 1500-14, and in the north-east angle of the chancel is a small incised slab to William, son of John Curzon (1487). On the south side is an incised slab to George Curzon esq. and his wife Katherine (1605), the figure of the former being in plate armour and the latter in a ruff and brocaded petticoat.

Over the priest's door is a monument to Henry Curzon (1639), and on the chancel floor is a large incised slab with effigies under canopies of a man in plate armour, bareheaded, and a lady, together with shields and figures of six children and an inscription to John Horton and his wife Anna (1520). He was son of Roger Horton, of Catton and grandson of Roger Horton who first held this manor, and died in 1422. Several other memorials of this family have been removed to the tower, but there are mural monuments extending from 1659 to 1764. On the chancel floor is also an incised alabaster slab with two figures much worn, under canopies and an inscription to William Shepherd of Okeley esq. and Elena his wife (1500), and under the tower a small slab with the incised figure of a child in a chrisom, and an inscription to John Howes, of Okeley (1554).

There are other memorials to the Rev. Samuel Holworthy, vicar 1809-39: and to his wife (1864), to John Betterage Pearson LL.B also a former vicar and his family (1808); to Christopher Wilmot-Horton, for some years captain and adjutant, Coldstream Guards, d.1864, and to the Right Hon. Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton, sometime governor of Ceylon, d.1841, and Annie Beatrix his widow, d.1871. There are 150 sittings, 80 being free. The parish register date from 1588 and is in good condition.

The living, a vicarage, had been held since 1872 by the Right Rev. Thomas Nettleship Staley D.D. formerly fellow of Queens College, Cambridge, and late Bishop of Honolulu. A great feature of interest near the church, "rising up from the river Mease which divides the counties of Stafford and Derby, is an ancient Saxon tumulus supposed to have been once fortified".

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 SK1976113637. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St John the Baptist's Church, Croxall shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Croxall 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)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Croxall, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.