We have 3 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Rosemary Lockie/Pete Howard

All Saints Church,
Church Lane, DE45 1FD,
Bakewell, 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 the 10th century, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes Bakewell as a market town, giving its name to a rural district, the township and head of a petty sessional division and county court district, with a station on the Midland section of the London, Midland and Scottish railway, 10 miles north-north-west from Matlock, 16 south-west from Sheffield, 12 east-by-south from Buxton, 12 west-by-south from Chesterfield and 152 miles from London.

The parish of Bakewell was then described as one of the largest in the county, and once contained nine chapelries and fourteen townships. The chapelries are named in Bagshaw's Directory of 1846 as Ashford, Baslow, Beeley, Buxton, Chelmorton, Great Longstone, Monyash, Sheldon and Taddington with Priestcliff; and the townships Bakewell, Brushfield, Bubnell, Calver, Curbar, Flagg, Froggatt, Hartle, Hassop, Little Longstone, Over and Nether Haddon, Rowland and Great Rowsley.

The church, "standing on an eminence above the principal part of the town", is a large cruciform embattled structure... and consists of chancel, clerestoried nave, aisles, porch, transepts and a central tower, rising from a square lower stage into a battlemented octagon, with an elegant and lofty spire, and containing 8 bells. The fabric exhibits remains of Norman work, including at the west end a fine Norman doorway, with an arcading above it, and other portions belonging to a very early church, the first alterations in which took place in 1250.

In the chancel is a brass to Bernard Wells, with inscription dated 13 June 1653. In pulling down different ancient portions of the church, a large number of early gravestones and other remains were found among the masonry, 65 of which are preserved in the porch, 55 others having been removed to the Lomberdale museum. Of these many are earlier than 1100 and none later than 1260. In the porch are a few ancient floor tiles, and above the entrance a sun-dial of 1793. The font is a large octagon bearing on each of the eight faces full-length figures under canopies, rudely carved, and may be assigned to the 13th century.

The register, which (Kelly says) is in bad condition, dates from 1614. The living (in 1932) was a vicarage in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield, and had been held since 1931 by the Rev. Arthur Edmund J.B. Barrow M.A. of Brasenose College, Oxford, hon. C.F. who was also chaplain of Bakewell institution (by which, I presume, they mean the "Workhouse", what is now Newholme Hospital).

Much to my surprise, there was no return for Bakewell Church at the time of the Religious Census of 1851, but there was for the Workhouse - the "Parochial Union Chapel" - completed by its Chaplain, Thomas Hirst. I can offer no explanation for this.

According to Bakewell - the Ancient Capital of the Peak (Halsgrove, 2005, p.60), All Saints Churchyard was closed to burials in 1858, when the Cemetery in Yeld Road was opened. the same year. Nevertheless Derbyshire Record Office's catalogue of Church of England Registers does list records of burials at All Saints for the period 1614-1918, 1929 and 1975. Perhaps the closure referred to by the Halsgrove book applied to new graves only, and burials in existing graves continued.

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 SK2156068463. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• All Saints Church, Bakewell shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Bakewell 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)