St. Michael and All Angels, Alsop-en-le-Dale
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Alsop church, Derbyshire |
Alsop church, mid 1800s (?) |
Vicar: vacant
for enquiries about baptisms, weddings etc please contact Miss Ros Hunt on 01335 350221 or Mrs Faith Hanson on 01335 350412
St.
Michael's church serves a small hamlet of around 140 people, including Alsop
Moor, Cold Eaton and Newton Grange. Church services are traditional in
nature, with two services of Holy Communion and one of Mattins each
month. Visitors are warmly welcomed to Sunday services.
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Alsop churchyard |
Bank holiday teas |
Churchyard in the snow |
Service times Recent Sermons Other
local churches Obituaries
History
The church of St. Michael and All Angels, Alsop-en-le-Dale, was until
comparatively recent times a dependency of the Mother Church of
Ashbourne. It was founded in early Norman times, but nothing is known of
the nature of the original foundation.
It is known, however, that in 1086 Alsop and Eaton were bailiwicks to the
manor of Parwich. Alsop, which had been
an ancient demesne of the crown, was granted to William de Ferrers, Earl of
Derby. In the reign of King John, de
Ferrers granted Alsop to Gweno, son of Gamel de Alsop, whose descendants
enjoyed the manor for seventeen generations.
At the close of the seventeenth century, Anthony Alsop sold estates in
the parish to John Borrow of Derby, and Sir Philip Gell, Bart. Thereafter the
estates were held by the Beresford and Milward families.
The present church has a chancel, a nave thirty-two feet in length and a
tower at the west end which contains a bell hung in 1892. On the south side of the church is a Norman
doorway, the head of which has a double chevron moulding. In the south wall there is a Norman window.
The walls are unusually massive for the size of the building, being about three
feet thick. The old stone corbels of the earlier roof show below the
nave. The font is circular, tapering
lightly towards the base. There is an ancient piscina in the north chancel
wall, for the ceremonial washing of hands by the priest. The pulpit predates the renovation of the
church, which was completed in 1883 the church at a cost of eight hundred and
forty pounds. At this time the east window was filled with a lightly
stained glass.
In the book The History
and Topography of Ashbourn and the Valley of the Dove (1839, author
unknown), we read:
"Taking the Buxton
Road from Ashbourn, through Fenny Bentley, leaving Tissington (one of the most
pleasing rural seclusions in Derbyshire), half a mile to the right hand we
enter upon a bleak, monotonous country, intersected by stone walls. At no
very distant period this was a wild open waste, and even now, though the hand
of improvement has been exerted, its aspect is cheerless and cold. Near the fifth milestone, the scene changes,
a deep narrow dell, in a high state of cultivation, opening to the east. At one end of this dell, almost shut out from
the traveller's view, is a little village, consisting of a few farm-houses, the
church, and the remains of the ancient manor house, to which has been given the
appropriate name, Alsop-in-the-Dale. In this neighbourhood it was that THOMAS
BECON, one of
the most laborious and useful preachers and writers among the British
Reformers, took refuge from the furious persecution of his enemies during the
reign of Henry VIII. Becon is reputed to
have written that he found the people of Alsop-en-le-Dale to be 'of very good
wits and apt understanding'.
The church registers (for births, marriages and deaths) date back to
1701. Most of these are now lodged with
the Derbyshire Record Office in Matlock (tel. 01629 580000 - switchboard, or email).
To mark the
Millennium year 2000, a new stained glass
window was commissioned from the artist Henry Haig, which is based on the
theme "I saw a new heaven
and a new earth" (Revelation 21.1).
The window was installed in the summer of 2001 and was
dedicated by the Bishop of Derby at a service on 30th September of that year.
An account in the Derby Mercury of the reopening of
the church in 1883, after substantial rebuilding, has recently been unearthed,
and can be read here.
The Alsop Family
Society exists for those with the surname Alsop - including all variations in
spelling - to meet from time to time and to exchange family information. There is normally a gathering of the Society
in June, including a church service and a lunch. Further information can be obtained from Mrs Winifred Waterall, 86, High Street,
Loscoe, Heanor, Derbyshire DE75 7LF.
Holiday Cottages
in Alsop can be rented by emailing churchfarmcottages.alsop@virgin.net
Visit www.cressbrook.co.uk/ashborn/churchfarm
for further details.
Back to Ashbourne Deanery Churches