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Dethick, St. John the Baptist Chapel |
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Dethick's chapel, an off-shoot of the mother-church of Ashover,
was founded in 1279 by Sir Geoffrey Dethick and Thomas, the
Prior of Felley in Nottinghamshire[1].
However, the church historian John Charles Cox noted that a
licence for the celebration of divine service had been applied
for about 50 years before it was founded/endowed and it is
now accepted that the chapel was built in 1220[2].
Cox also commented on the two deeply splayed lancet windows
on either side of the chapel, dating from about 1225, that
were in the Early English style and part of the original
building[3].
The top photograph dates from 1875. It shows both the church
and Church Farm, together with an old outbuilding. Manor
Farm, the former home of the Babingtons, is nearby.
The chapel has a chancel, nave and a tall west tower, though
no aisles. The late Perpendicular west tower was built in 1532
(the date is on the west front) by Sir Anthony Babington who
died in 1544, aged 69. There is a frieze around the tower,
decorated with various arms (shields) of the Babington family,
but these have been damaged and even in Cox's time were indecipherable[4].
Dethick Church, photographed in August 2011, from the garden
of Manor Farm
© Susan Tomlinson
The Babington's of Dethick descended from Thomas Babington,
who had married Isabella, the last of the Dethick line, some
time before 1432[5].
However, the Babington most people associate with Dethick is
another Anthony Babington, great grandson of the builder of
the tower, who was involved in a plot (the Babington Plot)
to rescue Mary Queen of Scots, and to destroy Queen Elizabeth
I[6].
As a sixteen year old boy he had been a page to Mary, whilst
she was imprisoned at Sheffield Castle, and was later persuaded
to take the leading part in the plot[3].
He was executed for high treason on 20 September 1586[1].
Mary Queen of Scots had been imprisoned at Wingfield Manor
but was moved to Tutbury, where her correspondence with Babington
seems to have begun, and then to Chartley. She was finally
sent to Fotheringhay where, following her trial, she he was
executed the following February[7].
Normally, the Babington property would have been escheated
(confiscated) for the Queen but Anthony Babington was clearly
aware of the enormity of what he was about to undertake and
the dire consequences if he failed. He therefore made the Manor
of Dethick over to his brother George, along with other property
he owned. Despite Anthony's forward planning, George proved
to be extravagant, and the estate had to be sold to Wednesley
Blackwall[1].
It was eventually owned by the Hallowes and they remained Lords
of the Manor until the end of the nineteenth century[8].
Rev. Brabazon C. Hallowes of Morcott, Rutland was Lord of the
Manor in 1895,
the last of his family to be connected to Dethick[9].
By 1899 John Marsden-Smedley had become the hamlet's patron
and chief landowner[10].
Over the Christmas period of 1872 a fire destroyed the almost
flat roof and the necessary repairs, with new timber restored
after the old pattern, were only just being completed when
the photograph at the top of the page was taken and Cox published
his first volume of "Churches"[1].
St. John the Baptist is still used for worship, with services
held there once a month and at Christmas and Easter.
Both Francis Clay, his younger brother George and their sister
Sarah (sons and daughter of Francis Clay of Bonsall & Crich
by his second wife Martha) were
christened at Dethick in 1806, 1808 and 1811 respectively.
Francis eventually moved to Matlock and was undoubtedly the
reason the direct ancestors of the web mistress moved from
Shirland to Matlock. Sarah married David Marshall of Canada
Farm.
See the Matlock
& Matlock Bath section of this web site.
Other Derbyshire churches where the Clay family worshipped,
were christened, married, buried or otherwise associated with,
can be seen by clicking on the images below:
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1. Heliotype plate of "Dethick W.", from
a photograph taken specially for Cox's book by Mr. R. Keene of
Derby[1]. © Ann Andrews collection
2. "St. John the Baptist, Dethick, Lea and Holloway".
Postcard published by The Scientific Press Ltd., London. Posted
in Matlock 17 June 1914. Image © Susan Tomlinson collection.
3. Photograph of Dethick Church, 2011, © Susan Tomlinson.
4. "Dethick Church, Interior". Bevel edged card
published by A W Bourne. The date on the back says 1972, but
the card is earlier than that. Image © Susan Tomlinson
collection.
5. "Interior of St. John the Baptist Church, Dethick". No
publisher. Not posted. Image © Susan Tomlinson collection.
Researched, written by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References:
[1] Cox, J Charles (1875) "Notes
on the Churches of Derbyshire, Vol I, Hundred of Scarsdale",
Chesterfield: Palmer and Edmunds, London: Bemrose and Sons, 10
Paternoster Buildings; and Derby. The Babingtons were buried
at Ashover.
[2] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1881 gave the date as 1512 but in their 1887
Directory this had been amended to 1220 and the date did not
change in later directories.
[3] Cox, John Charles, (1915, 2nd edition,
revised), "Derbyshire" - Illustrated by J. Charles
Wall, Methuen & Co., London.
[4] Cox, in his 1875 book on "Churches"
used an eighteenth century account of Ashover and Dethick, by
Nichols, that is in the Wolley MSS to work out whose arms they
had been.
[5] Charles Cox believed that Stephen
Glover was mistaken in some of the descent, having misinterpreted
a Babington tomb at Ashover (Glover, Stephen (1833) "The
History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby ..." Edited
by T. Noble. pub. Derby and London). William Wolley's "History
of Derbyshire" also corroborates this descent ( Glover, Catherine
and Riden, Philip (edited by) (1981) Derbyshire Record Society
Volume VI.
[6] Anthony Babington was a young man
when he became embroiled in the Babington Plot. Arthur Mee ("King's
England", 1937) suggests he was fifteen years younger
than Mary Queen of Scots, who was born in 1542. This indicates
that he was born about 1557.
[7] Frazer, Antonia (1969) "Mary
Queen of Scots", George Weidenfeld & Nicholson Ltd.
Orion Books Ltd. edition ISBN 970-0-7538-2654-6. On the first
day of her trial Mary claimed she had never met Babington, had
not corresponded with him and did not know the six men who were
plotting to kill Elizabeth Tudor. Eventually Babington's " depositions
and letters were now read aloud" (ch.25).
[8] Ward tells us that Dethick was the
property of Thomas Hallowes Esq. of Glapwell in 1814 (Ward,
Reverend Richard (1814) "The Matlock, Buxton and Castleton
Guide, containing concise accounts of these and other remarkable
places ... in the ... County of Derby", Derby).
[9] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1895.
[10] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1899.
Also see:
The
Wolley Manuscripts, Derbyshire
The
Wolley Manuscripts, Matlock
Kelly's
Directory of Derbyshire, 1891: Dethick, Lea and Holloway,
Derbyshire
Derbyshire's
Parishes, 1811
Dethick Church is mentioned in Hall's "Days
in Derbyshire", 1863, Chapter the Seventh. Riber,
Dethick and Lea. There are engravings of both the church
and the farm included.
And on another website, so it will open in a new window or
tab:
Derbyshire
Places of Worship: St John the Baptist's Church, Dethick, Lea & Holloway.
This is part of an extensive database for several UK counties
(GUKUTILS) researched
and maintained by Rosemary Lockie. |
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