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St James the Apostle's Church,
Church Lane,
Temple 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 the 12th century, and we understand it is still open.

Temple Normanton was formerly a chapelry of Chesterfield, created a separate parish in (according to Kelly's Directory) 1793. It was described as "a small agricultural village, on the road from Chesterfield to Mansfield, situated on an eminence half a mile from Grassmoor station, and one mile and a half from Heath station, on the Great Central section of the London and North Eastern railway, 3 south-east from Chesterfield station, 3 north-east from Clay Cross station on the Midland section of the London, Midland and Scottish railway".

"The chapel of this parish, prior to 1882, was a plain oblong building with a clumsy wooden bell-turret on the western gable, which had been rebuilt in 1623". One of the rude Norman windows in the north wall was a portion of the old building of the Knights Templars and dates from the 12th century. The chancel was separated from the nave by a wooden screen of plain uprights, and in the south chancel was a recess, probably an a[u]mbry. The existing church of St James, erected in 1882-1883 on the site of the old chapel, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an eastern turret containing one bell. There were 150 sittings.

The church today has once again been replaced, by a very modern looking one made of fibreglass, which is nevertheless attractive in its own right. The reason for this is provided with photograph of St James the Apostle's Church on the Geograph website. It appears that Kelly's description is out of date, as the church it refers to had, in 1922, been replaced by a wooden church, as the Victorian church had suffered the effects of subsidence as a consequence of mining at nearby Grassmoor Colliery. Unfortunately, the wooden church in turn had to be replaced with today's building, as it was unable to withstand the high winds its location was subject to.

There is a graveyard, with a cemetery attached, having its own Mortuary Chapel. Some attractive memorials can be seen from the road.

The parish records date from 1863; earlier records will be found in Chesterfield registers.

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 SK4175267380. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St James the Apostle's Church, Temple Normanton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Temple 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 Temple Normanton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may like to see photograph(s) of St James the Apostle's Church on the Geograph website.

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.