Bakewell Church.
It is a cruciform building, of about 150 feet in length from west to east, and about 105 feet in width across from wall to wall of the north and south transepts, with a central tower and spire. It contains some extremely fine Norman and Early-English features, and is lofty and remarkably well proportioned. In the centre rises a noble tower, the lower part of which is square, and the upper octagonal, with the angles boldly chamfered, and this is surmounted by a lofty spire. There can be no doubt, from remains which have been found, that a church had existed on this spot from very early pre-Norman times. In Domesday survey, it is stated there were two priests for the church of Bakewell. It was afterwards made a collegiate church. It was granted by William the Conqueror to William Peverel, his natural son, but was, with the other immense possessions of that family, forfeited by attainder by one of his descendants in 1154; it remained in the possession of the crown till it was given by Richard I., on his accession to the throne in 1189, to his brother John, Earl of Morteigne, afterwards King John. To him is traditionally ascribed the rebuilding of the nave (with the exception of the west end, which he is said to have left standing), and its endowment; but it is more probable that it was built and endowed by a Peverel, who gave part of the Bakewell tithes to Lenton Priory. In 1192, Earl John gave the church, with all its prebends and other appurtenances, to the present cathedral of Lichfield. In 1365, a chantry was founded in the church by Sir Godfrey Foljambe and Avena his wife, whose beautiful little monument will be seen on one of the piers of the nave. The nave, which was erected probably about 1110, is separated from the side-aisles by semicircular arches, rising from piers of solid masonry instead of pillars. At the west end is a fine Norman doorway ornamented with beak-head mouldings and other characteristic features.
The church was extensively repaired and restored in 1841, when numerous very interesting remains were brought to light. These included an extensive series of incised sepulchral slabs, of very early date, bearing crosses of various forms, and many interesting devices; several ancient crosses used as headstones; a considerable and extremely beautiful assemblage of fragments of encaustic paving tiles; and several fragments of coped tombs, and of crosses with the interlaced ornament so characteristic of the Saxon period, as well as many stone coffins, and sculptured fragments of mouldings, capitals, &c., belonging to the more ancient edifice.
Of these curious remains the greater part were preserved in the porch of the church, and consist of considerably more than fifty incised slabs—some of which are perfect, and others in fragments—and perhaps a score or two of other stones. It is also stated, and is much to be regretted, that at least four times the number of sculptured stones preserved were rebuilt into the walls during the alterations, so that, including a number taken away and now preserved at Lomberdale, there must have been from three to four hundred found. In the same porch, a selection of the ornamented paving tiles is also preserved; among the patterns are many of extreme beauty and elegance.
The font is also deserving of especial notice. It is octagonal, each of its sides bearing a figure beneath a crocketed canopy. A fragment of another ancient font will be seen in the porch.
The part of Bakewell Church, however, with which we have now particularly to do is the Vernon Chapel, in which, divided from the south transept by a beautiful open oak screen, lie buried the later Vernons and the earlier members of the Manners family connected with Haddon. This chapel was, it appears, erected “late in the Decorated period, about 1360, upon the walls of the former chapel. The Early-English half-pillars at each extremity of the arches had been retained, and were very beautiful examples, well worthy of imitation. The hollows of the mouldings, up to a certain height, being filled with bold roses, capitals in a different style were afterwards added to suit the decorated arches. The central pillars, with their central clustered shafts, are of singularly elegant design; the tracery of the windows partakes of the flamboyant character. The upper part of the buttresses was also altered to correspond with the new work.” It will bear comparison with any structure of the kind in England, and has been rebuilt in good taste.
In the centre of the Vernon Chapel stands a fine altar-tomb, bearing the recumbent effigies of Sir George Vernon, the “King of the Peak,” and his two wives, Margaret Taylebois and Maude Langford. This tomb is an extremely beautiful and characteristic example of the elaborately decorated monuments of the period to which it belongs. Along its sides, under a series of canopied arches, are figures bearing shields of the arms of the Vernons and their alliances and those of the families of his two wives. Sir George is habited in plate armour and surcoat, and wears a straight long beard and straight hair. He has a double chain and a sword. The inscription on this interesting tomb is as follows:—“Here lyeth Sr George Vernon, Knight, deceased ye —— daye of —— ano 1561, and Dame Margaret his wyffe, daughter of Sir Gylbert Tayleboys, deceased ye —— daye of —— 156—; and also dame Mawde his wyffe, dawghtr to Sr Ralphe Langford, deceased ye —— daye of —— anno 156— whose solles God pdon.” The inscription, it will be seen, has never been finished, the blanks for the dates not having been filled up. The surcoat worn by the knight is elaborately emblazoned with his own arms with all its quarterings; and, taken altogether, this is a remarkably fine and interesting monument.
At the south end of the chapel stands, to visitors to Haddon, perhaps the most interesting of its monuments. It is that of Dorothy Vernon, about whose elopement we have already discoursed, and her husband, Sir John Manners, with their children. This lady, it will be recollected, was one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir George Vernon, whose monument we have just been describing, and his first wife Margaret Taylebois, and by her marriage with Sir John Manners, she conveyed Haddon Hall and the other Derbyshire estates of the Vernons to the family of Manners, to whom they still belong. This monument we, for the first time, engrave. It is a large and very imposing-looking erection. At the top, in the centre, is a large shield, bearing the shield of Manners, with its sixteen quarterings, and on either side is an obelisk ornament, one of which bears the arms of Manners and the other of Vernon. Beneath these is a bold cornice and ornamental frieze, on which again occur three shields with the arms, respectively, in the centre Manners impaling Vernon; and on one side Avenell, and on the other Roos.