The early 1830s engraving of St. Martin's Church (above) shows what the building was like before the Victorian restoration of 1868-9. Stephen Glover, writing about Alfreton in 1833, provided the following brief history to accompany the image.

"The church is an ancient rude structure, with some handsome perpendicular windows, and pinnacled tower steeple at the west end embattled; the whole structure has evidently been built at several different times, with but little regularity of form. One of the lords of Alfreton was the builder of this church; for it appears that in the ninth year of the reign of Henry II. Robert, the son of Ranulph, gave it to Beauchief abbey, of which he was the founder. In the second year of the reign of Edward VI. the king granted it to Thomas Babington, who had then become the proprietor of the manor. The church is dedicated to St. Martin. ... the rectory of Alfreton, with the advowson of the vicarage, was granted by Henry VIII. to Francis Leake, esq. whose descendant, Nicholas Earl of Scarsdale, sold them; in 1673, to John Turner, of Swanwick, gent. The rectorial tithes were sold by auction, about the year 1779, chiefly to the several land owners, by the trustees of the late George Turner, esq. The advowson of the vicarage was purchased by the late George Morewood, esq. and now belongs to William Palmer Morewood, esq. The present incumbent is the Rev. John Pepper. There was a chantry in the church of Alfreton, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The lands belonging to which, of the value of £8. 4s. 8d. per annum, were granted by Edward VI. to Thomas Babington"^[1].

Ebenezer Rhodes had visited Alfreton some thirteen or so years before Glover, and noted that the church occupies a pleasant situation near the house of the Moorewoods and described the church tower as "rising out of the mass of wood by which it is nearly surrounded". There were then only about two hundred houses in Alfreton^[2].

St. Martin's had been built to cater for a population two thirds less than that of the town in the late 1860s. By then the interior was filled with "cumbrous piles of carpentry"; pews were of every shape and size and there were various galleries, presumably to try to accommodate all the worshipers^[3]. One of these, added in the previous century, could only be reached by a staircase (see top image), "and being packed closely up to a skylight in the roof, it long rejoiced in the euphonious appellation of the cucumber frame"!^[4] Something had to be done.

A special service was held for the closure of the church in June 1868. The following Sunday a service was held in the Town Hall and it had been arranged that the National School would be used for worship after that^[5]. The restoration was planned to be completed by the following March. Mrs. Chas. Allsop laid the memorial stone for the new chancel on 15 August 1868. The cavity underneath contained the following items: a local weekly and a daily London newspaper, some small coins and a dated parchment with the names of those involved^[6].

The church was to be greatly enlarged, given a new roof and some of the original windows were incorporated into the bigger building. The architects of the 1868-9 design were Messrs. Hine and Son of Nottingham, with the work contracted to Messrs. C. Wright and R. Johnson of Nottingham, supervised by Mr Alfred Appleton of Derby (the Clerk of Works). Pine benches were added, as well as a new stone font and an oak lectern^[4]. The sacrarium floor was covered with Minton tiles and the church was "warmed by one of Boulton's furnaces for the circulation of warm air". There was also a new organ, built by Mr. C. Brindley of Sheffield. St. Martin's was re-opened by the Bishop of Lichfield on Thursday 5 August 1869, with many local clergy in attendance^[3].

Heliotype photograph of the porch by Richard Keene of Derby, ca. 1869.
The roof of the nave, almost flat in the 1830s Glover image above, had been raised and now had a higher pitch^[7].
A carved stone figure of St. Martin was placed in the niche over the porch in 1922^[8].

The photograph of the porch dates from slightly after this restoration and was taken in 1875 for J. C. Cox's first volume about Derbyshire's churches^[7]. We can see the new roof, the apex of which was roughly level with the top of the clock on the south face of the tower. In the left bottom corner is a gravestone:

In Memory of William Everingham
Died February 4th
---- Aged 72 Years^[9].

Reverend Arthur C. Beckton arrived in Alfreton in late 1897. At the annual vestry meeting in the Spring of 1899 further alterations to the church were considered and agreed, although it would take some 6-7 weeks to obtain a faculty. A report from Messrs. Taylor of Loughborough was read out to those present, recommending recasting the small bell and installing two new bells that had been previously promised. Unfortunately the tenor bell was not in good shape and also needed recasting^[10]. Tenders were invited and in September 1900 Mrs. Palmer-Moorwood laid the foundation stone for the chancel alterations^[11]. Although the church had been much altered in 1869, by the turn of the century the chancel was said to have been out of proportion with the lengthened nave, as well as being inconveniently small. The major improvements on this occasion included the erection of an organ chamber (it had previously been in the nave's north aisle), the lengthening and raising of the chancel and for a choir vestry in the tower. This work was to cost about £1,600. C. Hodgson Fowler, the architect who had worked on Durham Cathedral, had drawn up the plans and the Mansfield builder Thomas Fisher carried out the work. So it was lengthened by ten feet, the walls were raised three feet and a new floor, of Mawe tiles, was laid. Preparations were also made for new oak choir stalls, when there were enough funds^[12]. The chancel re-opened in late April 1901^[13].

St. Martin's in 1899.
Taken outside the churchyard, it shows a pretty wrought iron arch over the gateway.
Around the turn of the century "the churchyard was kept in very good condition during the summer months, a special fund being raised for the purpose"^[14].

A new vicarage, later called The Glebe, had been built on a large plot next to Alfreton church in 1891^[15] though it was eventually replaced by a more modern building. Amongst the Rectors who lived at The Glebe was Thomas Allen Moxon M.A. who was educated at Manchester Grammar School and St. John's College, Cambridge and was instituted to the living in November 1907^[16].

Allen Moxon was appointed Rural Dean of Alfreton in 1910^[17]. His younger sister, by then Mrs. Eliza A. R. Haigh, lived with him for a time on her return from India. Rev. Moxon resigned in 1916, joining the British Red Cross Society Motor Ambulance Department as a chauffeur and he saw active service in France before taking up the post of Classics master at Shrewsbury School at the beginning of 1917. He married Evelyn Goodwin Stroyan of Alfreton later that year^[18]. Allen Moxon went on to become the head of Denstone College, Rocester.

Inside the Church.


The interior of St. Martin's, 1924.
Surrounding the chancel arch is the biblical quotation from Luke 2:v.14:
Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace, Goodwill Toward Men.

The columns on the north side of the nave arcade are circular and date from about 1320, whilst those on the south are octagonal and were added about thirty years later; they are from the Decorated period. These were taken down and rebuilt in the 1868 restoration, when an additional arch was added on the eastern most side^[7]. Black's Guide of 1888 noted the 14th century porch, the reredos of Derbyshire alabaster and the arch from the nave into the tower at the west end of the church as containing early English work^[19]. It is Early Henry III, according Cox^[20].

St. Martin's Church contains monumental brasses to John and Joan Ormond, and tablets and inscriptions to the Moorwoods and others^[20]. "The only other memorial of that period is a slab, incised with the head of a sepulchral cross; it was found beneath the pavement of the chancel and in 1894 was fixed in the chancel wall and protected in front by a sheet of plate-glass"^[14].

Amongst the other memorials inside the church are several that stand out and date from the late nineteenth and early to mid twentieth century. "In 1894 a stained window was erected to the memory of Tom Herring Bingham, son of the late Dr. Bingham, who was drowned at Eastwood, Notts, on Friday, 12 Aug. 1892, while attempting to save the life of Cecilie Barber, aged 5 years, who had fallen off a steam launch at Lamb's close"^[14]. Another memorial window was erected in 1907, dedicated to a local solicitor William Wooding Nelson and his son, who were drowned at Sutton-on-Sea, Aug. 1906. It was unveiled when Allen Moxon was instituted^[16].

There are also poignant memorials to those killed in the Boer War, World War One and World War Two. In 1921 several recently added memorials were dedicated in the church. There had been 120 Alfreton men who had fallen in the Great War and a new carved oak chancel screen was dedicated to the fallen. At the same time the chapel to St. Thomas, at the east end of the south aisle, was restored and the chapel altar and furniture dedicated to the former assistant curate, Rev. E. O. Read, who killed by a shell in 1918 whilst assisting removing the wounded from the battlefield. A new communion rail in the chancel was dedicated to J. W. Wilson^[21]. After the dedications the Vicar read out the names of the fallen, including an E. Clay, who had been a member of Alfreton Church Lads' before the war^[22].

The Roll of Honour was placed in a new position in 1924, on the left side of the chancel arch (behind the lectern) and facing the congregation, thus giving it a distinct connection with the memorial screen. The first position had been considered to be obscure by some of the congregation^[23].

The church was still lit by gas when this picture was taken. Electric lighting was not installed until late 1933. It was paid for by R. C. A. Palmer-Morewood as a memorial to his mother. This was recorded on a brass plate placed on one of the pillars in the nave^[24].

The church celebrated its 850th anniversary in 2020.

References:

^[1] Glover, Stephen (1833) "The History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby ..." Edited by T. Noble. pub. Derby and London.

^[2] Rhodes, Ebenezer (1824) "Peak Scenery" pub. London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster Row.

^[3] "The Derby Mercury", Wednesday 11 August 1869. Re-opening of Alfreton Church and Opening of a New Organ.

^[4] "Nottingham Journal", 7 August 1869. Re-opening of Alfreton Church and Opening of a New Organ. Almost identical article to reference ^[3].

^[5] "Sheffield Daily Telegraph", 11 June 1868. Alfreton Church. Funds to pay for this restoration had already been raised.

^[6] "Derbyshire Times", 22 August 1868. Laying the Foundation Stone of the New Chancel at St. Martin's Parish Church, Alfreton.

^[7] 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.

^[8] "Derbyshire Times" 2 September 1922. Alfreton Memorial Dedicated. This carving was in memory of Dr. John J. Bingham, a well known medical practitioner in the town, and his three deceased sons. One of the sons lost his life drying to rescue a drowning friend in 1892 and another was killed in action in 1915.

^[9] "The Derby Mercury", 8 February 1837. "... the same place [Alfreton], and same day [Saturday last], Mr. Everingham, cooper, after a lingering illness. He was a very honest upright man, and much respected". One of the executors of his Will was S. Everingham of Oxford Street, London.

^[10] "Derbyshire Times", 8 April 1999. Alfreton. Alteration Scheme to the Parish Church Accepted.

^[11] "ibid.", 8 September 1900.

^[12] "Alfreton Journal", 3 May 1901.

^[13] "Derbyshire Times", 4 May 1901.

^[14] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire", 1912.

^[15] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire", 1891 and various historic maps.

^[16] "Belper News", 29 November 1907.

^[17] Amongst the sources used for Rev. Moxon were census returns, Derbyshire newspapers, the British Red Cross Register Of Overseas Volunteers 1914-1918 and his obituary in The Times of 18 Sep 1943.

^[18] "Alfreton Journal", 27 August 1920. He preached a sermon in the church whilst spending a holiday in the town. His wife, an Alfretonian, also returned for such things as prize givings, and presumably to see her relatives..

^[19] "Black's Tourist Guide to Derbyshire", (1888) pub. Adam and Charles Black Edinburgh.

^[20] Cox, J Charles (1915) "Derbyshire". The author noted that Joan Ormond was the heiress of Chaworth, but although the brass inscription remained the figures disappeared long ago.

^[21] "Alfreton Journal", 20 May 1921. The Honoured fallen. Memorials dedicated at Alfreton.

^[22] E. Clay was Lance Corporal Ernest Clay, No. 29639 of the 17th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derbys) Regiment. Signaller Lance-Corporal Ernest Clay was aged 23 when he was killed in action. He was one of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frdk. Clay, and a grandson of Abraham Clay of Mansfield. Ernest was a married man and lived at Mapperley and had only been in the fighting line for six months ("Belper News," 6 October 1916. Two Alfreton Sergeants Killed).

^[23] "Alfreton Journal", 2 May 1924. The Glorious Dead.

^[24] "ibid.", 28 December 1933. Christmas at the Churches.

Alfreton is included in the following on-site transcripts:

	Derbyshire's Parishes, 1811, Parishes A, which has more about the town. Alfreton - Entry in Kelly's Directory for Derbys, Notts, Leics & Rutland, 1891.
	The Wolley Manuscripts, Derbyshire: Charters, Documents & Deeds : Places A - B, mentions Alfreton.

Matlock Bath: Sanger's Circus, 1900, with an early 20th century photo of a parade through Alfreton.