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St Michael & All Angels Church,
Church Street / Fordbridge Lane, DE55 2BT,
South Normanton, 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 1137, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes South Normanton's Church as "supposed to have been dedicated to St Michael", though there does not appear to be any doubt about this. The Diocese of Derby - Parish Churches account dates it to 1137. Kelly's Directory describes it as "an edifice in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, consisting of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, organ chamber and vestry, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles and containing a clock and 5 bells, dating from 1654 to 1813". The doorway on the south side is Norman. The arcade of three arches on two octagonal piers separating the nave and aisle is also of that period, during which the greater part of the fabric underwent much alteration. The windows are mostly Perpendicular, to which style the tower also belongs, and may date from 1440. Four crocketed pinnacles were added in 1813. The chancel retains two piscinae in its south wall and has a stained east window; there is another stained window at the west end. In the north aisle is a large tomb to Robert Revel (1714) and Ann his wife, and in the porch an incised slab of the 12th century. The south aisle, organ chamber and vestry were added in 1878, when the church was "entirely rebuilt with the exception of the tower and north aisle". During the restoration, a very perfect priest's door, with dog-tooth mouldings, was discovered in the south chancel wall, and now forms the arch to the vestry door. A chancel screen was erected in 1902. In 1932 there were 450 sittings. The parish records date from 1540, and contain a copy of the order for keeping parish registers.

The Blackwell Colliery Company and the South Normanton Colliery Co. Limited had coal pits partly in the parish; the latter, which opened for working in 1893, was employing "600 hands".

There is a very large, and atmospheric, graveyard at the rear of the church.

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 SK4422056959. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Michael & All Angels Church, South Normanton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in South Normanton 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 South Normanton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• “Churches to experience and explore … ” Diocese of Derby - Parish Churches (null) (verified 2018-10-07)

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.