St. Michael and All Angels, Alsop-en-le-Dale

Alsop church, Derbyshire
Alsop church, mid 1800s (?)

Vicar:  The Revd. Christopher Harrison  

The Vicarage, Parwich, Ashbourne, DE6 1QD  

tel. 01335 390226 or email

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. 


Alsop churchyard
Bank holiday teas
Churchyard in the snow

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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.

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.

 

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