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St Mary's Church,
Church Street,
Pilsley, Clay Cross, 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 1874, and we understand it is still open.

The ecclesiastical parish of Pilsley was created in 1874, from North Wingfield. In 1932, it had a station on the Chesterfield and Nottingham section of the London and North Eastern railway, and was about 1 mile distant from Doe Hill, and about 3 miles from Clay Cross stations, on the main line of the London, Midland and Scottish railway.

The church of St Mary "erected in 1875, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, south aisle, north porch, vestry, and a turret containing one bell". A grey marble memorial tablet, presented by the late Mrs Sampson, was erected in 1920 to the men of Pilsley who fell in the Great War. In 1923, the chancel was panelled and oak choir stalls installed to the memory of the late Mrs Sampson by her children. A side chapel was formed in 1932 in memory of the late Mr Luke Sampson, for many years churchwarden, by his wife. The parish records date from 1874.

Kelly's Directory of 1932, from which the above information is taken, notes that Nether Pilsley forms part of the village, and "is commonly called Lower Pilsley"; but this seems not to be the case in the present day. The settlement called "Lower Pilsley" is a mile or so to the north, whilst Pilsley itself is divided into "Upper Pilsley", to the north of Station Road, and "Nether Pilsley", to the south of Station Road. Confusing, huh?

The triangular area bounded by Church Street, Station Road, and Prospect Road is marked on Old Maps from 1899 as the Market Place. It is now grassed over, and two half-"winding wheels" mounted in brick surrounds are set in the grass, presumably from Pilsley Colliery, which in 1932 was half a mile north of the church, and employed 900 hands.

Further information may be available on St Mary's Church website, or St Mary's Pilsley on FaceBook. Information on the former Church Hall, now St Mary's Centre, is also available elsewhere in this database.

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 SK4238362242. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Mary's Church, Pilsley, Clay Cross shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Clay Cross 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 Pilsley, Clay Cross, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may want to visit St Mary's Church website for present-day information.
• The FaceBook page for St Mary's Pilsley (null) (verified 2018-11-07)
• See St Mary's Centre elsewhere in this database.

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.