Listed Building record MDR11295 - Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Street, Brimington

Church of St Michael and All Angels, Church Street, Brimington, built in 1847 on the site of two earlier chapels, a tower of 1796 survives. One of the ancient chapelries of Chesterfield was that of the adjacent hamlet of Brimington, lying about two miles north-east of the mother church. However, few particulars of the old chapel are known beyond the bare fact of its existence and that it was probably dedicated to St Michael, which is the dedication of the present church. Nor are there any remains of the old building. It was pulled down in 1808 and completely rebuilt, with the exception of the tower which had been previously rebuilt by Joshua Jebb in 1796. On this tower there was an inscription "D.D.D. J. Jebb, 1796", D.D.D. possibly standing for 'Domino dono dedit, ie 'gave this gift to the Lord'. In 1846 application was made for a faculty to again pull down and rebuild the church, and this was carried out in the following year. The tower was at that time considerably raised, and probably then lost the inscription, which is not now extant. (1) A church is first known at Brimington in 1298-99, mentioned in a pipe roll. During the medieval period Brimington was a chapelry of Chesterfield. There are no visible remains of the medieval chapel and the only record of its appearance is a water colour of circa 1785. The painting shows a plain building with a chancel, nave, weatherboarded turret at the west end, and south porch. In 1796 a west tower was added by Joshua Jebb of Tapton Grove, then aged 97, using stone from his own quarry. In 1808 the chapel was demolished except for the tower, and a second chapel on the same site opened in 1809. It comprised chancel and nave with round-headed windows and south porch. In 1844 Brimington became a parish in its own right. In 1846 the church was pulled down apart from the tower, and replaced in 1847 by the present building in Gothic style. The tall nave with clerestory is on the same lines as the previous nave, but the addition of north and south aisles raised the seating capacity from 302 to 572. The tower was raised and strengthened, and four pinnacles and a clock added. A new chancel was built in 1891. (2) The bells of the Church of St Michael and All Saints are of historical significance as they are a small pair dating from 1720 by D Hedderly. (3) From the National Heritage List for England: '908/10/204 CHURCH STREET 26-SEP-77 BRIMINGTON (North side) PARISH CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AND ALL AN GELS II Parish church with tower of 1796, remainder rebuilt 1847 by J. Mitchell, chancel refurbished 1891 by Naylor & Sale. MATERIALS: Ashlar gritstone chancel and south side, coursed squared gritstone to the north aisle and north wall of nave, slate roofs. PLAN: Aisled nave with lower and narrower chancel, west tower, south porch and north-east vestry. EXTERIOR: The church is in Decorated style. The 5-bay nave has 2-light square-headed clerestorey windows with trefoil-headed lights, and larger 3-light windows to the buttressed lean-to aisles. The porch has a double-chamfered arch on shafts, and south doorway with strap hinges. The 3-stage unbutressed tower has an embattled parapet with big corner pinnacles. It has 2-light windows in the lower stage, south clock face and small west window in the middle stage, and 2-light belfry openings. The chancel has a 3-light east window and 2 single-light south windows. Lean-to north vestry. INTERIOR: The lofty interior has nave arcades with tall octagonal piers to chamfered arches. The triple-chamfered tower and chancel arches are on responds with clustered shafts. The roof has arched-braced trusses on tall wall posts on foliage corbels. There is diagonal boarding behind the rafters. The chancel roof is similar. Aisles have roofs with beams and diagonal struts. In the tower base masonry is exposed, showing the blocked C18 windows. Other walls are plastered, and the floor is stone-paved, with raised wood floors below pews. PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The font is octagonal in Perpendicular style. It has a tall 4-tier conical font canopy added in 1899 and painted in the C20. The nave has simple benches with moulded square-headed ends, and choir stalls with pierced quatrefoils in the backs. The tower arch is infilled with a screen erected in 1927, with glazing in Perpendicular tracery within the arch. There are several brass wall plaques, the earliest of which commemorates Henry Audsley (d 1723). In the south aisle the white-marble war memorial is by Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934), the renowned sculptor of war memorials, showing an allegorical figure of Victory and inscription panels; it is in an austere Neoclassical idiom which was unusual for the sculptor. The figure has been moved from its original position (after its plinth was stolen) and is now set on a marble corbel on the south side of the east window. Stained glass windows include one signed by Abbot & Co of Leicester (1932). HISTORY: A small late-medieval church at Brimington is shown in an engraving of 1785. It was replaced by a new church in 1796 at the expense of Joseph Jebb, of which only the tower has survived. The church was rebuilt, and the tower heightened, in 1847 by Joseph Mitchell (fl 1841-66), architect of Sheffield. In 1891 the chancel was refurbished by the partnership of John Naylor (1854-1923) and George Sale (1857-1945), architects of Derby. SOURCES: Pevsner, N (revised E. Williamson)., The Buildings of England: Derbyshire (1978), 110. Spencer, D., The Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels, Brimington: A History and Guide (2002). Lambeth Palace Library, Incorporated Church Building Society Archives. REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Michael and All Angels, Brimington, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a well-designed and well-proportioned 1840s church that has retained a unity of design, and is a good example of the relatively plain architectural style that was popular for Anglican churches before the ecclesiological revival of the mid C19. * It retains a tower that is a rare example of C18 Gothic. * The war memorial is an innovative sculpture by Charles Sargeant Jagger, one of the foremost of all war-memorial sculptors.' (4)