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St Mary's Church,
Hall Drive, S44 5UR,
Sutton Scarsdale, 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 about 1200, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes St Mary's Church as adjoining the south side of Sutton Scarsdale Hall, and is "a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing 4 bells". There are memorial windows to Robert Arkwright esq. and to the Rev. M.M. Humble and his two daughters. There is also a marble monument to Samuel Pierrepoint esq. (1707), and brasses to the Arkwright family, plus an incised slab to John Foljambe, dated 1499. The Rev. M.M. Humble, rector of the parish 1839-89, is commemorated also by an oak pulpit placed in the church in his memory. An eagle lectern made of oak was presented by a parishioner. The organ was provided to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee in 1897 of Queen Victoria. The church was reseated in 1886, and has 250 sittings. The parish records date from 1662. The living was then (1932) a rectory, consolidated with the vicarage of Duckmanton, and had been held since 1930 by the Rev. George William Ready, of Queen's College, Cambridge.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/448/3/1/1) is interesting. The church of "St Mary's, Sutton", in the parish of Sutton cum Duckmanton had free seating for 60, and 190 "other" sittings, and the average congregation was 80 to morning service, and 85 in the afternoon, with 35 and 10 Sunday Scholars respectively. The return was completed by the above-mentioned M.M. Humble, "Rector of the Parish", who gave his address as "Sutton Rectory, Chesterfield". He had cause to remark that the Church being situated 2 miles from bulk of inhab: it is scarcely possible to give an average attend: had Sunday 30th been a wet day not one fifth persons wd have been present but the above is to the best of my belief. N.B. 80 communicants in the Parish. Query - how can a Dissenter or a non attender at Church verify these statements?"

The parish of Sutton cum Duckmanton includes the hamlets of Duckmanton, Far Duckmanton, and Long Duckmanton, and the district of Duckmanton Moor. It had a railway station, on the Great Central section of the London and North Eastern railway, called Arkwright Town, in between Long Duckmanton (on the east) and Duckmanton Moor. According to the British Listed Buildings website, the earliest architecture in St Mary's Church is the north arcade, dating from the 14th century; however the account provided in the Diocese of Derby - Parish Churches list suggests it was most likely built by the Grey family around 1200, at the same time as the old Manor house. <p> The present Sutton Scarsdale Hall dates from 1724, and was designed by Francis Smith of Warwick for Nicholas, Earl of Scarsdale. It is now in the care of English Heritage, as is St Giles Church, which is usually closed, but open on Saturday afternoons.

Elsewhere online there is a tantalising reference to "a rare tomb depicting a carver of a Norman household, one of only 3 in Britain", but I have been unable to verify this.

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 SK4421268889. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Mary's Church, Sutton Scarsdale shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Sutton Scarsdale 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 Sutton Scarsdale, 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)
• “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.