Monument record MDR11313 - Churchyard, St Alkmund's Church, Duffield

The situation of the churchyard on the banks of the Derwent is picturesque in the extreme, and a fine yew tree of extreme age is to be seen to the north-east of the church. Against the trunk of this tree, and partly buried in the ground, leans a slab of alabaster. This is the lower half of an incised gravestone … this slab, before the restoration of the church in 1847, was on the floor of the west end of the nave, when it was barbarously broken up and ejected. Two other small fragments of the stone we found built into a paved drain with which the church is surrounded. (1) Map evidence indicates that the western boundary of St Alkmund's churchyard was extended some 10m-15m westwards when the railway was constructed. (2-4) The late 18th century gatepiers at the north west entrance to the churchyard are Grade II listed. (5)