We have 2 Images Above Photograph(s)
Copyright of Paul Slater

St Michael & St Mary's Church,
Church Square, DE73 8EN,
Melbourne, 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 1133, and we understand it is still open.

The parish of Melbourne includes the hamlet of King's Newton and more recently, Derby Hills, formerly extra-parochial.

Though the living of Melbourne was given to the Bishop of Carlisle when the see was founded in 1133, the church itself was not completed until the early 13th century. Its Victorian restoration (1859-1862) was by Sir George Gilbert Scott. It is described by Mike Salter in his booklet The Old Parish Churches of Derbyshire (1998) as "one of the most ambitiously planned Norman parish churches in Britain", with an aisled nave of six bays extending from a twin-towered west front "of the sort normally found only in cathedral or abbey churches" to a crossing tower with transepts. The towers of the west facade were never completed, so the whole appears to have just one central tower. The Chancel dates from the 12th century but was partly rebuilt about 1602. Its windows have stained glass of circa 1870; whilst those to east and south are Chartres style. The whole is now a Grade I Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for more details.

At the time of the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/444/2/2/6) the dedication was recorded as simply "St Michaels". The return was completed by the Vicar, Joseph Deans, and he added that "there is a licenced room for Public worship at Kings Newton in this parish for wh a return is sent". His estimate of the congregation on March 30th that year was 89 in the morning, 99 in the afternoon, and 86 in the evening, with 59 and 74 Sunday Scholars at morning and afternoon class respectively. Interestingly, although there were no morning and evening services in the room in Kings Newton, 1 more worshipper (a total of 100) attended in the afternoon!

Derbyshire Record Office's catalogue of Church of England Registers lists a burial register for the period 1653-1914, but it looks from Google Satellite View that the graveyard has been cleared. There is however a Cemetery in Melbourne, at 69 Pack Horse Road.

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 SK3890824994. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Michael & St Mary's Church, Melbourne shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Melbourne 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 Melbourne, 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.