We have 3 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Alf Beard

St Peter's Church,
St Peter's Road, SK17 7EA,
Fairfield, 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 1260, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1895 records Fairfield as a township, parish and village, 1 mile east-north-east from Buxton. The river Wye divided the township and parish from the township of Buxton. The Church of St Peter, "built in 1839, on the site of a Late Perpendicular edifice, erected during the Tudor period, is a plain modern edifice of stone, rectangular in plan", which has an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 6 bells.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/450/1/3/3), though only 20 years or so later, makes no reference to the rebuilding. It describes a building with a total of 365 sittings, 155 of which were free, and 310 "other; but there are no attendance figures. It was completed by Geo: Mounsey, "Curate of Fairfield", with an address of "Fairfield, Nr. Buxton, Derbyshire".

The 1851 Civil Census reveals George as a Lodger aged 78, by occupation "Curate of Fairfield" ("Protestant Clergyman" crossed out) born Barton in Westmorland - an old man, far from home, and noone attends his services?

By the time Kelly's Directory of 1932 was published, Fairfield, and St Peter's fortunes were looking up. Fairfield had been included in the borough of Buxton for civil purposes, whilst St Peter's (now said to have been built on the site of two earlier structures dating from the 13th century) had a porch added in 1897, and had been enlarged in 1902 by the addition of transepts, chancel, vestry and organ chamber &c. There is a mural monument to William Dakin, a merchant of London (1848), with an unusual motto, and other, with the crest of the Dakin family, to Edward Dakin, d.1809, formerly in the old church. There are several memorial windows, the east window erected in 1920, being in memory of the seventy-two men from the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918; their names are inscribed on a brass tablet in the sanctuary. A silver chalice and cover bears the date 1595. A fine oak pulpit, added in 1902, was presented as a memorial to Dr. Bennet, of Buxton. By this time there were 500 sittings.

The parish registers date from 1738; "the earlier registers are alleged to have been destroyed". In 1932, the living was a vicarage, in the gift of trustees, and had been held since 1929 by the Rev. Howell Saunders Williams B.A. of St David's College, Lampeter.

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 SK0667274152. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Peter's Church, Fairfield shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Fairfield 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)