And now for a word or two on the Church, which is one of the most charming old buildings in the country. Long may it be kept from the hands of the “restorer!” The edifice is cruciform, consisting of a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, and central tower—the south transept being the mortuary chapel of the Curzons. The south doorway of the nave is early Norman, with beak-head mouldings and a sculptured tympanum; and the “priest’s door” in the chancel is equally interesting, although of later date.
In the chancel is a remarkably fine monument to Sir Nathaniel Curzon, Bart., who died in 1758, aged eighty-four, designed by Robert Adam, the architect of Kedleston, and executed by Michael Rysbrach in 1763; and another monument erected in 1737 to Sir Nathaniel Curzon, and Dame Sarah, his wife, daughter of William Penn, Esq. There are also a fine, but partially mutilated, brass to an early Curzon, and an incised slab to William Curzon, 1544. The east window of stained glass, “In Memory of George Nathaniel Curzon, born Oct. 1826; died June 17, 1855,” is of beautiful design. In the floor of the chancel, on removing two massive circular pieces of wood mounted with rings, about a foot below the surface, each within a deeply cut quatrefoil, are the heads of a knight in armour and of a lady in veil and whimple. There is no inscription connected with these extremely curious and unusual monuments, but they most probably represent a knight and lady of the Curzon family.
Kedleston Church, from the West.
In the Curzon Chapel, south transept, are fine old monuments, some of which are shown in the opposite engraving. One of these is a knight and lady on an altar tomb, the knight in plate armour with collar of SS, and the other the monument of a knight, also in collar of SS. Besides these are monuments and tablets to Sir John Curzon and Patience Crewe, his wife, 1604; Sir John Curzon, 1727; Nathaniel, second Lord Scarsdale, 1837, and his lady, 1850; and many others to different members of the family, besides a fine canopy of a “founder’s tomb.”
The Church closely adjoins the hall, from which there is an entrance into the churchyard. At the east end of the Church is a quaintly curious sundial, bearing, above the dial itself, the words We shall, and thus reading—
WE SHALL
DIAL
(the latter word, of course, not being there, but implied by the dial itself): the meaning is, “We shall die all,” or, “We shall all die.”
