Day 15 addendum.

I’ve never visited Derby before, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the mix of old and new. I want to visit the Cathedral and the Museum before catching my train home. I stop at a seat in an open square to rehydrate and pack my sticks away. This just so happens to be alongside The Museum of Making, which I had not intended to visit. Chatting to a couple on the n̈ext seat who happen to work there, I’m encouraged to have a look inside.  I’m glad I did. 

The Museum of Making. 

The Derby Silk Mill here is widely regarded as the site of the world’s first modern factory, built in the valley that helped to change the world. It has recently had a major facelift. Here is its raison d’être.

“Celebrating the area’s rich history of innovation, the Museum of Making in the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site is a contemporary space telling Derby’s 300-year history of making to inspire new creativity. Designed and made by the people and industries of Derby, with exhibits, workshops, activities and events, there’s something here for everyone” 

I am immediately enthralled as I walk in and am greeted by one of their volunteers. I explain that I’m just having a quick look around, as I’m really in Derby for its Anglo-Saxon associations. I come out two hours later and thank her. 

The Rolls-Royce engine dominates the entrance hall, a thing of beauty as well as engineering magic.

The subsequent floors feature the most amazing collections of memorabilia, all on display, more like a junk shop to browse through than a traditional museum of glass cases.  But it is not all random; the exhibits are organised by technology and materials. ‘Things’ made in or associated with Derby from the start of the Industrial Revolution. Far too many objects and information to share with you in this post.  Visit Derby, bring the children, and immerse yourself in the experience.

As a bonus, there is an art exhibition on the top floor, EarthBound.  Exploring the hidden layers of the  Earth, examining how we are connected to this surface through the eyes of a diverse group of artists.

“EarthBound aims to make us pause for breath and think that our future survival may well depend on our having a deeper understanding and respect for the incredible micro-organisms and fungal networks that hold our planet in balance. The smallest things can have the biggest impact on our survival as a species”.

I stop by the ‘making and repair’ room, where the couple who recommended I visit are busy working. I’ve been invited back for an extended visit. 

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Churches dedicated to Saint Alkmund, the Saxon patron saint of Derby, who died in 800AD, have been constructed on a site in Derby since the 9th century. The most recent Saint Alkmund’s Church was a Victorian church, which stood in a Georgian square between Bridgegate and Queen Street. The church and its yard were demolished in 1968 to make way for the construction of a road to improve traffic flow.  A stone coffin and the remains of a 4-metre (13 ft) tall stone cross were recovered from the site and transferred to Derby Museum and Art Gallery. (I have also read about St. Alkmund’s Well, which is nearby)

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So I’m off to the Museum and Art Gallery to see the Saxon stones, except most people I ask for directions don’t know of it. Typical of many of us, neglecting what’s on our doorstep for treasures further afield. I grab a ground plan and head to the Archaeology room.  The central space is occupied by a Bronze Age wooden boat, crafted from a single 10-meter-long oak log. 

St. Alkmund’s Sarcophagus, c. AD 800  is the stone coffin removed from St. Alkmund’s Church during its demolition. Initially placed in the 9th century church on the same site, it is remarkably well-preserved and features the intricate interlacing carvings with which I’m becoming increasingly familiar on this trip. It is carved from a single block of sandstone and weighs nearly a ton. Its lid has gone missing.

Alongside is St. Alkmund’s Cross, c.AD 850, an Anglo-Saxon stone cross found in the churchyard when it was being rebuilt in 1840. It is only part of the upper shaft and has intricate carvings on each face, mainly of animals.  These don’t show up well in my photographs, but I have one for completeness. 

Also found at St. Alkmund’s Church in 1840 is a fragment of a 10th-century Viking Hogback tombstone..

The Repton Stone was found in 1979 outside of  Repton Church. It is thought to be an upper section of a standing cross, c 700 – 873. One face shows a mounted figure, wearing mail armour and brandishing a sword and shield. This has been identified as King Æthelbald of Mercia. In 757, Æthelbald was killed and buried at Repton. If this is Æthelbald, it would make it the earliest large-scale pictorial representation of an English monarch.

I only glance at some of the other rooms, nature and history, etc, but I spend some time in the Joseph Wright gallery.

Joseph Wright, 1734-1797, was born in Derby and became a renowned portrait and landscape painter at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment. He was particularly noted for his use of light on his subject matter. I have previously seen one or two of his paintings in other galleries; they are very distinctive, but to view so many in one room was a treat. Here are four well-known ones to sample.

In complete contrast, in another room, was some work by Marion Adams,1898 – 1995, a Derby-born teacher who found some fame as a surrealist.

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I make my way back to the cathedral. The Cathedral Church of All Saints was founded in 943 by King Edmund of Wessex and is at the heart of the city. That church disappeared, and there were rebuilds in the intervening centuries. The present church is a Georgian rebuilding by James Gibbs, completed in 1725. The tower, however, dates from the 16th century.  To offset the rather austere interior, Gibbs introduced a wrought-iron chancel screen, extending across the entire width of the church, manufactured by the local iron-smith and gate-maker Robert Bakewell.

The first impression upon entering is one of space and light. There is no heavily stained glass.

An organist is playing, or rather practising, which adds to the atmosphere.

The two modern stained glass windows, by Ceri Giraldus Richards, at the east end of both aisles represent the light and dark forces.

I come across the artist Joseph Wright’s gravestone, saved from the ill-fated St. Alkmunds Church. The tomb of Bess of Hardwick is a prominent feature,  “one of the richest and most powerful women in the kingdom”  This Elizabethan lady was responsible for Hardwick Hall and Chatsworth House.

I missed the memorial to Florence Nightingale and probably much more. 

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In the distance, I can see a beautiful church. I walk towards it, and there is a connecting bridge across the freeway, St. Alkmunds Way. This is St. Mary’s RC church. Designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852), an inspirational figure whose dedication and spiritual attachment to the Gothic medium was to transform English church architecture. 

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I will be returning to Derby to start the last few days of my pilgrimage to Lichfield, and I have a few other sights to see in the city.