The situation is exceedingly pleasant, in a pure and excellent air. It abounds with all kinds of conveniences for the use of the inhabitants, as coal, stone, timber, &c.; besides its proximity to a good market, to take its products.
The Church is now a little Rectory, in the gift of the Dean of Lincoln. At first it was a Chapel of Ease to Chesterfield, a very large manor and parish; of which I will give the following short but convincing proof. The Dean of Lincoln, as I said, is Patron of this Rectory, and yet William Rufus gave no other church in this part of Derbyshire to the church of St. Mary at Lincoln but the church of Chesterfield; and, moreover, Whittington is at this day a parcel of the great and extensive manor of Chesterfield; whence it follows, that Whittington must have been once a part both of the rectory and manor of Chesterfield. But whence comes it, you will say, that it became a rectory, for such it has been many years? I answer, I neither know how nor when; but it is certain that chapels of ease have been frequently converted into rectories, and I suppose by mutual agreement of the curate of the chapel, the rector of the mother church, and the diocesan. Instances of the like emancipation of chapels, and transforming them into independent rectories, there are several in the county of Derby, as Matlock, Bonteshall, Bradley, &c.; and others may be found in Mr. Nichols's "History of Hinckley," and in his "Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica," No. VI.
Fig. 1 is an inscription on the Ting-tang, or Saints Bell, of Whittington Church, drawn by Mr. Schnebbelie, 27 July, 1789, from an impression taken in clay. This bell, which is seen in the annexed view, hangs within a stone frame, or tabernacle, at the top of the church, on the outside between the Nave and the Chancel. It has a remarkable fine shrill tone, and is heard, it is said, three or four miles off, if the wind be right. It is very antient, as appears both from the form of the letters, and the name (of the donor, I suppose), which is that in use before surnames were common. Perhaps it may be as old as the fabrick of the church itself, though this is very antient.
Fig. 2 is a stone head, near the roof on the North side of the church.
In the East window of the church is a small Female Saint.
In this window, A. a fess Vaire G. and O. between three water-bougets Sable. Dethick.
Cheque A. and G. on a bend S. a martlet. Beckering.
At the bottom of this window an inscription,