Annesley. Part Deux
Yes, I know. Technically there was no part 1 to the Annesley Hall story. But there was and so, here it is.
The doorway to the lady's chapel. This leads you out of the church and into the far corner of the graveyard.
Annesley All Saints 'New Church'. For those that know the area there is a large spired building as you drive along Derby Road. This is the New Church, established around the late 1800's. It was to provide for the growing populations of the villages of Newstead and Annesley, as coal mining really took hold in North Notts.
As the new church was consecrated, the old church was abandoned. What old church, I hear you ask? Yes. The Norman church founded by the Norman Lords who swept through England after 1066. It is pretty well hidden. Partly because it is away from the mining villages and is stepped back from any major road. But it is there. This was my second destination on my Saturday walk.
It is a Grade I listed building and a scheduled Ancient Monument. The Current ruins date back to around the 1340/50's (the Reign of Edward III). This replaced the original Norman Church. The only remaining Norman structure is a section of column and Archway.
This is it. Beautiful isn't it. Over a 1000 years old, and yet here it stands, moulded into the 14th Century remnants...
This is it. Beautiful isn't it. Over a 1000 years old, and yet here it stands, moulded into the 14th Century remnants...
And so, the Church stood and watched the world grow and evolve from the middle ages to now. Like I've said. The new mines meant a new church being established. The Old church was, occasionally, used up until the 1940's then it became abandoned and when the Annesley estate was sold in the mid 1970's the place finally went to rack and ruin. We have the ruin now.
However, the Church Commissioners who owned it sold it to the local authority for £1. It has since this sale received £450,000 in funding to help make it more accessible and safer to visit.
So I did. Mainly because I never have. It is a strange, wild, place. It is only metres from a main road but as you approach it you only feel a deep sense of isolation because its entrance is enveloped by foliage.
The Graveyard is fairly large. It, too, adds to the sense of wildness. It is unkempt. In some ways it reminds me of the wildness described in an Emily Bronte novel.
Most of the Tombstones are now indecipherable. 100's of years of weather has stripped the detail from them. There are exceptions. The one above is for a small child, Ann Blockey, 4 years old who died in April. Two months later, presumably, her younger sister, Julia followed, aged only 4 months. A stark reminder of the infant mortality rate in Victorian England. Graveyards are social history at its most final.
From the Grave yard you then begin the approach to the church itself. Most of the external walls now reduced to fence height. Here you can directly over the wall and into the church. The Viewpoint of the photo is shown by the yellow arrow on the ground plan below. Looking in into the church and facing the tower at the far end. Now gated off, although there is no staircase left left to climb now.
It does give you a sense of the, relatively, compact size and shape of the Church. It is worth remembering that in 1861 the parish population was approx 200. Within 10 years it had increased to 1202 in the 1871 census. The mining had arrived and it had brought people for the employment. Hence the church had been outgrown and the new church was begun!
You can also see the interior is still heavily grassed. It is almost like a wild meadow, inside and out.
Once you are inside you can see the thickness of the grass, where once you only found stone. It is overgrown. I do not know if there are plans to strip out the undergrowth. I am working on the assumption that under that is the stone floor.
This view also shows, on the right hand side, the Lady Chapel.
There are some interesting features in the lady chapel area of the Church; decorative, and in memoriam.
The most impressive is the site of the grave of, William Chaworth. Now, previously I have mentioned the close proximity of the Chaworth's with the Byron family at Newstead. This relationship provided for quite some scandals. Perhaps the most lethal involved, William Chaworth. In, 1765 on the 26th January the 5th Lord Byron, killed William Chaworth in a duel in the Star and Garter Tavern. He was buried at Annesley Church in the following february. His grave is sited in the lady Chapel, here, below.
Again, weathering has removed most of the detail. It was also a very wet day and the grassed areas do not help either, which is a shame. Whether there is a cutting programme to strip the grass from inside the church? I have seen photos where the grass is as short as a lawn. Until that moment happens it will be very much like larger Abbey ruins, Roche and Rievaulx Spring to mind.
However, the Church Commissioners who owned it sold it to the local authority for £1. It has since this sale received £450,000 in funding to help make it more accessible and safer to visit.
So I did. Mainly because I never have. It is a strange, wild, place. It is only metres from a main road but as you approach it you only feel a deep sense of isolation because its entrance is enveloped by foliage.
The Graveyard is fairly large. It, too, adds to the sense of wildness. It is unkempt. In some ways it reminds me of the wildness described in an Emily Bronte novel.
Most of the Tombstones are now indecipherable. 100's of years of weather has stripped the detail from them. There are exceptions. The one above is for a small child, Ann Blockey, 4 years old who died in April. Two months later, presumably, her younger sister, Julia followed, aged only 4 months. A stark reminder of the infant mortality rate in Victorian England. Graveyards are social history at its most final.
From the Grave yard you then begin the approach to the church itself. Most of the external walls now reduced to fence height. Here you can directly over the wall and into the church. The Viewpoint of the photo is shown by the yellow arrow on the ground plan below. Looking in into the church and facing the tower at the far end. Now gated off, although there is no staircase left left to climb now.
It does give you a sense of the, relatively, compact size and shape of the Church. It is worth remembering that in 1861 the parish population was approx 200. Within 10 years it had increased to 1202 in the 1871 census. The mining had arrived and it had brought people for the employment. Hence the church had been outgrown and the new church was begun!
You can also see the interior is still heavily grassed. It is almost like a wild meadow, inside and out.
This view also shows, on the right hand side, the Lady Chapel.
There are some interesting features in the lady chapel area of the Church; decorative, and in memoriam.
The most impressive is the site of the grave of, William Chaworth. Now, previously I have mentioned the close proximity of the Chaworth's with the Byron family at Newstead. This relationship provided for quite some scandals. Perhaps the most lethal involved, William Chaworth. In, 1765 on the 26th January the 5th Lord Byron, killed William Chaworth in a duel in the Star and Garter Tavern. He was buried at Annesley Church in the following february. His grave is sited in the lady Chapel, here, below.
Again, weathering has removed most of the detail. It was also a very wet day and the grassed areas do not help either, which is a shame. Whether there is a cutting programme to strip the grass from inside the church? I have seen photos where the grass is as short as a lawn. Until that moment happens it will be very much like larger Abbey ruins, Roche and Rievaulx Spring to mind.
It seems the local council wish to arrange community events, etc to make more of it. I think they have done a few reading groups, etc. The local heritage centre has been doing a fair bit documenting the history. It also means that at some point I'll have to visit the New church in Annesley. A lot of the internal decoration was transported there. Oddly, I have been to the new church a couple of times. I even did a Christmas reading there once, in a precious life. I should have paid more attention.
The doorway to the lady's chapel. This leads you out of the church and into the far corner of the graveyard.
When you step out of the door, pictured above, this is the view you get looking left. The overgrowth is exceptional, as I'm sure you'd agree! You can walk through it as there are identifiable pathways, though I am not sure they aren't leading over sites of graves, you can only see grass under your feet.
One interesting artifact to be found is this one. It's is a chaworth-Musters memorial to John and Lina Chaworth Musters, George Chaworth Musters, Mary Anne Packe, Henry Charlton Chaworth-Musters, and the three Chaworth-Musters sons killed in the First World War. It's a very interesting piece. Strangely, this is the most ornate memorial, yet it wasn't moved to the new church. Here it remains as a testament to the closeness of the land and history of Annesley to the Chaworth-Musters family. A relationship that has lasted nigh on 900 years.
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