St. Michael and All
Angels, Alsop-en-le-Dale
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Alsop church, Derbyshire |
Alsop church, mid 1800s
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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.
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.
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