Listed Building record MDR6394 - Church of All Saints, Scratta Lane, Whitwell

Church of All Saints, Scratta Lane, Whitwell, originally an 11th century building. '"All Saints Church" (dedication on banner within church) is in regular use for divine worship. G.P.s AO/59/255/3 South Doorway from South. AO/59/255/4 Church from NE.' (1) 'The ancient church at Steetley, now [in 1875] long since desecrated, is usually spoken of as a Saxon edifice. The earliest date, however, to which it can be assigned is that of the first half of the 12th century. Steetley was held, shortly after the Domesday Survey, by Gley de Briton who had four sons, and it seems probable that the church was built by either Gley de Briton or one of his sons. The building is quite a gem of early architectural art; indeed it is one of the most complete and beautiful specimens of Norman work on a small scale that can be met with anywhere in this country or in Normandy. Both nave and chancel are now destitute of roofs; the former has had no covering for about a century and a half, but the chancel is represented as tiled, with a gable roof, in a plate published in 1817. In 1873 it was reported that the apse had been in a very ruinous state but had been carefully rebuilt by the Earl of Surrey about 40 years earlier. The walls were found to have had a coating of very fine plaster. In the surrounding yard several skeletons were also found. A diary entry, published in 1870 but written on February 12 1698, records the building as 'a staitly well-built chapel, all arched roofed, excellently enambled and gilt; the lead that covered the same is all stolen away, so that the weather begins to pierce through its fine roof, to its utter decaying'. Bishop Littleton in 1742 noted that the chapel had been converted into a barn.' (2) 'Steetley Chapel is by far the richest example of Norman architecture in Derbyshire, yet it is only 52ft long and 15ft wide. The lavish, almost ostentatious display of mid-12th century decoration must be connected with some special purpose of the chapel, but manorial history has not so far yielded an answer. The chapel went out of use and the nave and chancel were roofless right through the 19th century and probably earlier. A restoration took place in 1880 (designed in 1876-80 by J L Pearson) and although it was careful, a certain amount of what we see at present is Victorian and not Norman. The church contains an Anglo-Norman grave slab, with a representation of a chalice and a paten resting on an altar and a blessing hand.' (3) 'Two scratch dials have been found within the chapel, one at the south-east corner of the choir, the other on the south-east corner of the nave.' (4) 'The restored but largely intact chapel of Steetley, Whitwell, is a tiny building with a quality of decoration which far surpasses that on churches many times its size.' (5) 'Steetley Chapel is by far the richest example of Norman architecture in Derbyshire and one of the most complete small-scale examples in the Norman world. Except for a sill of later window, which is a brown shelly limestone, the whole of the local Permian Lower Magnesian Limestone, here a crystalline dolomite, and an object lesson in the difficulties of sourcing and matching original stone. The Norman stonework, which makes up most of the Steetley fabric, is a fine-grained creamy dolomite which shows no sign of weathering.' (6, 7) 'Dr Pevsner, in his 'The Buildings of England' calls Steetley Chapel 'by far the richest example of Norman architecture in Derbyshire'. It is only 52 feet by 15 feet and has a great deal of mid-12th century decoration. The elaborately ornamented arches between nave and chancel are particularly interesting. The chapel was roofless for a long time, the present roof being a Victorian restoration.' (8) From the National Heritage List for England: 'SK 57 NW; 2/174 PARISH OF WHITWELL, SCRATTA LANE, STEETLEY (South Side) Church of All Saints 26.08.65 GV I Parish church. C12, C13, restoration 1876-80 by J. L. Pearson. Coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings. Plain tile roofs. Nave with south porch, chancel and semi-circular apse. 52 feet long by 15 feet wide. Essentially a mid-C12 building with minor alterations. Moulded plinth. Corbel table with carved figures. The apse has a band of scrolly ornament linking the sills. Gabled bellcote at the east end of the nave, with a single round arch. Shallow south porch, the gable breaking above the eaves line. The porch was heavily restored by Pearson in 1880, when the church was roofless and overgrown. The portal has four orders of colonettes with much weathered carving of medallions and foliage scrolls. The arches decorated with zigzag and simplified beakhead. The latticework gable dates from 1880. Row of corbels across the gable. The south side of the nave has one tiny round-arched window. The south side of the chancel has a 3-light Dec window with geometrical tracery. The apse has three round-arched windows with nook shafts, cushion capitals and roll-moulded arches. The bays divided by pilaster buttresses. The north side of the chancel is blind and the north side of the nave has a blocked round-arched doorway and a broad round-arched window set high up. At the west end of the nave are two narrow round-arched windows set one above the other. INTERIOR: Elaborately ornamented arches between nave and chancel and chancel and apse. Tunnel vault over the chancel and a rib vault over the apse. Transverse arch with three roll mouldings and two ridges. Two ribs to the apse vault of the same profile. The apse vault is supported on half-columns with carved capitals. Aumbry recess on the north side of the chancel. The font has a tapering square bowl on a square base with colonettes. Grave slab (north west corner of the nave) Anglo-Norman, with a representation of a chalice and paten resting on an altar and a blessing hand. Listing NGR: SK5435678726.' (9)