Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

of England. The

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

of Derbyshire includes the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

of the city of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

. This is a complete list of the Grade I listed churches and chapels in the ceremonial county as recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

. Buildings are listed by the

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strateg ...

on the recommendation of

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

. Grade I listed buildings are defined as being of "exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important"; only 2.5 per cent of listed buildings are included in this grade. Christian churches have existed in Derbyshire since the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

era, and some of the Grade I listed churches have retained Saxon features.

St. Wystan's Church, Repton St Wystan's Church is a Church of England parish church in Repton, Derbyshire that is famous for its Anglo-Saxon crypt which is the burial place of two Mercian kings. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a design ...

, has a complete Anglo-Saxon

crypt A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...

, and some churches have fragments of Anglo-Saxon stones incorporated in their structure, including

All Saints' Church, Aston-upon-Trent All Saints’ Church, Aston upon Trent is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Aston-on-Trent, Derbyshire. History The church dates from the 12th century, with elements from the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th century It was rest ...

, and All Saints, Bakewell. More churches contain elements of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...

. The architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

identified the two most important Norman churches as

St Michael with St Mary's Church, Melbourne St Michael and St Mary's Church, Melbourne is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Melbourne, Derbyshire. History The church is medieval and existed when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086. The current building dates f ...

, and All Saints' Church, Steetley, the latter being little more than a chapel. Most of the churches in the list date from the 15th century or before, and the predominant architectural style in the list is

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. Only three churches in the list originate after 1600, namely

St Saviour's Church, Foremark St Saviour's Church, Foremark, is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Foremark, Derbyshire. History The church dates from 1662 and was built by Sir Francis Burdett, 2nd Baronet. The oak lectern was given in 1920 as a memo ...

, built in 1662,

St Mary's Church, Cromford St Mary's Church, Cromford, is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Cromford, Derbyshire. History The current building replaced an ancient chapel. The church was built to the designs of the architect Thomas Gardner for the ...

, the building of which started in 1792, and

Church of All Saints, Hassop The Church of All Saints, Hassop, Derbyshire is a Roman Catholic parish church. Built in 1816–17, the architect was Joseph Ireland. It is a Grade I listed building. History Francis Eyre of Hassop Hall built the original chapel between 1816-1 ...

, built in 1816–17, and the only Neoclassical church in the list. Derbyshire is a largely rural county, and contains much of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

National Park. Past industries have included coal-mining, and quarrying of stone continues in the county. Industry is located mainly in and around Derby. The

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

of much of the county is

carboniferous limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian epoch (geology), Epoch of the Carboniferous period (geology), Period. T ...

, with areas of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and millstone Grit, these stones providing the major building materials for the churches.

Churches

References

Citations Sources * {{refend

Lists of Grade I listed buildings in Derbyshire