Listed Building record MDR5880 - St Werburgh's Church, Church Hill, Blackwell

St Werburgh's Church, Church Hill, Blackwell, built in c1824 on site of Norman Church. 'The church is thought to be of Saxon origin (the dedication name) but was rebuilt in the Norman period. The church was again rebuilt in 1824 and once more in 1877, with the exception of the tower). In the north wall, inside, a circular pier of transitional style (c1200) is preserved. There is a poorly preserved cross-shaft in the churchyard.' (1) 'By the porch of the 19th century church are a number of architectural fragments from the earlier church. One appears to be the head of a Medieval cross. There are also 13th century slab tombs with floral cross motifs.' (2) 'The church, which is dedicated to St Werburgh, was rebuilt in 1827-1828. The only portion of the old building which seems to remain are the pillars and perhaps the arches, on the north side of the nave. It would seem as if the old tower, and the much of the body of the church, had been of Norman design.' (3) There are a number of church relics that have been collected together adjacent to the church. They include a pinnacle dated 1721 from the old church, an old stone quern that had formerly been thought to be a Norman font, a stone coffin cover used until recently as a gate post and a Saxon cross shaft. (4) Despite there being no record of a church in Domesday Book and no archaeological evidence in its present fabric to indicate a pre-Conquest foundation, there are several significant factors which strongly indicate that a Saxon church of significance stood on, or close to, the site of the present church. One factor is its location in an unusually prominent position, situated on an escarpment overlooking the surrounding arable landscape. Another is the presence of a stone monument built into the fabric of the church which has design elements showing it to be 10th century and with patterns identical to those found on at least one of the stone monuments recovered from St Alkmund's, Derby. The most intriguing piece of evidence is an architectural column standing at one end of the nave and which is paralleled by two Anglo-Saxon columns now standing in the porch of St Wystan's church at Repton. A final piece of evidence is the dedication to St Werburgh. A case can be argued therefore that, not only was there an Anglo-Saxon church here, but that the building was likely to have been of considerable importance. It is suggested that the church was, in fact, recorded in Domesday Book, but under the name of Morton, which lies less than 3km away. The present church at Morton has no architecture earlier than the 13th century. (5) From the National Heritage List for England: 'This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 30 March 2022 to update text and reformat to current standards SK 45 NW 12/49 PARISH OF BLACKWELL CHURCH HILL (South Side) Church of St Werburgh 8.7.66 GV II Parish church. 1824-7 by Daniel Hodkin, rebuilt except for tower 1878-9 by J B Mitchell-Withers, re-using some earlier fragments. Tooled ashlar with plain ashlar dressings and slate roofs with stone coped gables plus ridge cross to chancel gable. West tower, three bay nave with south porch and single bay chancel with north vestry. Three stage tower has deep plinth, wide band between first and second stage with narrower band over, and plain sill band to bell stage. First stage has double chamfered pointed west door with plaque over inscribed 'Rebuilt AD 1824 J Gill and Adlington Church Wardens', and pointed Y-tracery window above. Clockfaces to all except east side to second stage and pointed louvred, Y-tracery bell openings over. Stepped eaves band and embattled parapets with crocketed corner pinnacles. Nave and chancel with continuous chamfered sill band. North nave elevation has three pointed three-light windows with assorted geometric and intersecting tracery below wide bracketed eaves. To east, a gabled vestry with ogee headed single light window to west, pointed two-light cusped ogee traceried window to north and pointed chamfered doorcase to east. Chancel has three-light geometric traceried pointed window with returned hoodmould to east and cusped ogee headed single light window to south. Buttresses between nave and chancel, nave south elevation similar to north elevation plus gabled porch to west with pointed doorcase below ridge cross. Below central window there are two attached early C18 tombstones with incised decoration, to Elizabeth Sampton and her son. Interior has tall double chamfered chancel arch with soffit on moulded column corbels, small pointed doorcase into tower and pointed arch into north vestry from chancel. Plain late C19 fittings including octagonal stone font. One re-set C12 column to north wall and a C9 cross shaft in the porch. Several re-set monuments in the tower, one c1780 with shouldered architrave on moulded consoles to Lucy Boot, similar to Ann Wilkinson, who died 1762 and slate and white marble wall memorial to Stephen Wilkinson, died 1793 signed 'An Ince Maton'. Similar mid C19 memorial and one early C19 charity plaque. Listing NGR: SK4439858404.' (6)