ST. PETER'S NEW CHURCH, PARWICH
NEAR ASHBOURNE.
Derby Mercury 1873Parwich is a small and somewhat romantically situated hamlet, seven miles from Ashbourne. The old church has been entirely removed and a new one built upon the same site, from the designs of Messrs, Stevens and F. Robinson, architects of 45 Friar-gate, Derby. The church being now complete, was opened on Friday. The style adopted is late Norman, the chancel being rather later and bordering upon early English. In plan the church consists of a chancel 16 feet by 22 feet six inches in the clear; the nave and north and south aisles are 47 feet by 41 feet in the clear. There is a western tower and spire which rises to an altitude of about 100 feet; and there is an organ-chamber and vestry, 18feet by 12feet, at the north-east end. The pulpit, which is of worked stone, occupies the east end of the northern arcade, and the old Norman font has been placed at the south-west end of the nave near to the tower. There is a new reredos, of Ancaster stone; this is richly carved, and has upon it, immediately over the alter-table, two seraphim with veiled faces. These stand upon pedestals. The panels on either side of the central cross are carved with foliage suggestive of the Blessed Sacrament. The extreme length of the building, from out to out, is 96 feet, and the extreme width 51 feet. As a whole, the interior of the church is very pleasing, and whilst it embodies all the characteristics and features of Norman architecture, presents none of that extreme gloom which detracts so much, as a rule, from the proper utilising and success of Norman buildings generally. The nave is separated from each aisle by a bold arcading of four bays, each column being surmounted by well-carved capitals. Two of the responds are old examples, and the type of these, as well as the other local Norman work, has been carefully retained by the carvers. The graceful characteristics of the transition from Norman to early English have evidently been the basis upon which the sculptors have worked, and in this they have been most successful. Into several of the capitols shields bearing various symbols of the patron saint have been introduced with good effect. The aisles are lit on either side by circular-headed single-light windows, and by double-lighted ones on the western side. The clerestory is carried well up, and is capitaly lit on either side by nine cinquefoil circular windows, recessed in a running arcade, The walls all through the interior of the church are of ashlar stone, and the roof of the nave and chancel and the lean-to roofs of the aisles are of timber. The seating is open and of pine; the stalls in the chancel are of pitch pine. There is a credence table on the south side of the chancel, and at the east end of the vestry is an old pisina. The ancient and highly interesting chancel arch in the old church has been carefully preserved, and made to form the tower arch, and an old stone coffin lid, upon which is incised a foliated cross and a two-handed sword, has been preserved, and been built up in the tower in a conspicuous place. The church is entered by a western tower door and a priest’s door. Over the former is the early Norman arch that originally belonged to the south door and within it is a curious and remarkably interesting tympanum, well sculptured in Norman type. The roofs are slated, but the spire which is low and squat, like nearly all the local spires, is entirely of stone. The carving throughout the building has been executed by Mr, Harry Hems, sculptor, of Exeter. The builders are Messrs W. H. and J. Slater, of Old Uttoxeter Road, Derby, and the Coxbench stone, an excellent material, procured from a quarry belonging to these contractors, has been used for all In its comparatively short 127 year history the new church at Parwich has undergone many changes since it was erected in 1873.The main changes were made in 1907 under the direction of the reverend Claud Edmond Lewis and Gerald William Lewis, when the south aisle was extended to enable the organ to be moved, also the present doorway and porch were added to the north aisle. The seating was rearranged to allow access to the new door, and the pews shortened and placed further apart to give more width to the gangways and space to the occupiers. The carved stone pulpit was replaced by the present one of carved oak, the rood screen was erected between the nave and chancel and the pine choir stalls replaced. The Rood screen and pulpit together with a fine font cover, now consigned to the vestry, are the work of Sir Walter Tapper, an architect and artist who died in 1935. The richly carved stone reredos from behind the altar was removed and the two angels which surmounted it are now perched on the capitals of the Norman arch under the tower. A chamber was excavated under the north aisle to accommodate a heating boiler and the church was lit by acetylene which was generated in the small stone building next to the Memorial Hall. In 1919 a carillon of eight bells was installed by Alfred John Gainsford, joint Lord of the Manor of Parwich and Edith Geraldine his wife, to commemorate the victory won in the Great War 1914-18 and in proud and grateful memory of those men of Parwich who fought and died.