Day 13 postscipt.   A brief look around All Saints Parish Church in Youlgreave, with its Saxon connections.

Usually, when visiting churches, I pick up or purchase an information leaflet, and most churches have an electronic payment machine.  I have mislaid my excellent guide to here, as well as Wirksworth Church, so I’m relying mainly on memory and Simon Jenkins’ comprehensive book – England’s Thousand Best Churches.

I arrived here from Bakewell, with the church tower dominating the village.

There was probably a wooden Saxon church on this site, but the present building dates back to the 1150 period and has been much modified since.

The oldest surviving parts are in the nave, featuring typical thick Norman pillars and arches. Since then, many different styles have been incorporated – a large Gothic chancel, Tudor windows, and a 15th-century perpendicular-style bell tower.

Blocked Norman door.

Perpendicular style tower door.

The Norman font originally belonged  to the church at nearby Elton and is a simple sandstone affair, but with an added stoup with a salamander (a symbol of baptism) carved into its support. 

Above the altar is the great east window, featuring stained glass by the William Morris Company, designed by the Pre-Raphaelite master Edward Burne-Jones.

I’m not sure about these windows. A Victorian and a C20 memorial to incumbent vicars.

Another stained window in the north aisle is a poignant memorial window to Rennie Crompton Waterhouse of Lomberdale Hall, Middleton-by-Youlgreave, killed at Gallipoli in 1915.The window glass was gathered from the ruined cathedral at Ypres and other destroyed churches in Flanders, and brought back to Youlgreave by his brother.

I have two photos of tombs within the chancel.

The first one I’ve identified as a fine marble tomb to a Thomas Cockayne, who died in a fight in 1488. The effigy is smaller than life size, indicating that he died before his father.

The other chancel tomb is a worn effigy of a knight with his feet on a lion, dated to the 13th century and thought to represent Sir John Rossington. Notice the tiled floor.   

In the north aisle, there is a wall memorial dedicated to Roger Rooe of Alport, who died in 1613, and his wife, depicted wearing a top hat, and their eight children.  The memorial is an ornate Jacobean-style piece, featuring the couple facing each other with their children standing below.

Another memorial is an alabaster plaque from 1492 commemorating Robert and Julia Gilbert, featuring a central figure of the Virgin, and kneeling figures of Julia and numerous daughters on one side, and Robert with numerous sons on the other. The inscription says that Gilbert “caused this chapel to be made”. They certainly had large families back then.

The choir stalls, likely Victorian, feature some interestingly carved heads.

If I had looked up I would have seen wooden carved roof bosses.

I was most interested in the small figure in a semicircular niche, probably a C12th carving of a pilgrim, with his bag and staff. I felt a close infinity. Another probably AngloSaxon stone carving depicts a man, could he be peeing in the bushes?

Elsewhere a piscina is held up by a ?Norman head.

That was an hour well spent. My present mileage of 8 to 10 miles per day gives me ample time to explore and interact with people along the way.