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Copyright of Alf Beard

St Michael's Church,
Church Lane,
Shirley, 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 14th century, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes Shirley as a township, parish and picturesque village 4 miles south east from Ashbourne station on the Churnet Valley section of the North Staffordshire railway and 10 north west from Derby.

The church of St Michael is described as a building of stone, situated on an acclivity, and consisting of chancel, nave of 3 bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled tower with 4 pinnacles, erected in 1868, containing a clock and 3 bells, two of which are dated 1688. "In 1842 the north aisle was added and the church refitted, the chancel arch, the only remnant of the Early Norman church, being replaced by a Pointed arch. All the ancient parts of the church now remaining, including the south aisle and its windows, and the arcade separating it from the nave, are Decorated". At the east end of the north aisle is a portion of the Norman tympanum once placed over the principal entrance.

The parish registers date from 1658 for all entries "and is in excellent condition". The living, in 1932, was said to be a vicarage in the gift of Earl Ferrers, and had been held since 1913 by Rev. Richard Edward Coates B.D. of Manitoba University.

St Michael's is of course now a (Grade II) Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details.

Also of note, for those wishing to establish the extent of Shirley's ancient boundaries, is that a formerly detached part of the parish was transferred to Hollington in 1887.

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 SK2188641655. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

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