Acrostic Anthonie of the Frith

On March 24, 2026March 25, 2026 By SteveIn PeopleLeave a comment

St Alkmund’s, Duffield church, seems to have a curious location. It’s right by the River Derwent and near the confluence with the Ecclesbourne, a position which has led to repeated flooding over the years, though the village was mainly built on higher ground. Yet the church is also on what was the main turnpike route from Derby north to Chesterfield, which crossed the Derwent close by, before heading uphill to Holbrook. Until the early nineteenth century there was no bridge at Milford.

To the north, the ridge of high ground is criss-crossed by many footpaths, and in this web of paths is Day Park, believed to have been the home of the Bradshaw family. In medieval times Duffield parish was much larger than today, including Heage, Belper and Holbrook, and some of these routes would have provided access to the parish church. By the end of the sixteenth century Duffield Frith, once famous for its deer and boar, was a decayed royal hunting park, and Anthony Bradshaw was the Deputy Steward.

In contrast to many notables of the period we know something of the man’s character, since he left a memorial to himself and his family in Duffield church. Unusually, this was erected in 1600, long before he died in 1614, and clearly was designed by himself. The memorial can be found in a side chapel on the north side of the nave, and has thumbnail pictures of himself and his family, with his first wife on the left and the second on the right.

His first wife was Grisilda Blackwall from Over Haddon, by whom he had four sons (no dates are given), as can be seen in the left-hand strip. Elizabeth Hawghton was his second wife, and she had produced 16 children by the time of the memorial, who are listed as:

Jacinth, Anthonie, Michaell, Elizabeth, Felix, Quyntin, Petronilla, Athanasia, Isidora, Mildrede, Brandona, Erasmus, Joseph, Millicant, Cassandra, Vicesim.

Unwilling to stop at 20, the happy couple went on to have several more after the monument was built, including one called Penultima – clearly finding names had become a problem! Unfortunately we have no record of their dates of birth, nor how many survived infancy. Bradshaw was not just a proud father, but was also a wordsmith, and he devised an exemplary acrostic for the family memorial, setting out his wishes for his children:

B less them O Lord with peace

R esist their adverse fates

A lways them well increase

D efending them from bates

S uch livelode to them give

H ere whylst on earth they bee

A s they may love and live

W e praye O God quoth he

Bradshaw (1545 – 1614) was also a public benefactor, building four almshouses for poor widows on the site of the present Baptist Chapel , just opposite the sign below. In return for their house the widows were required to keep the family memorial clean and dust the family pew – presumably a convenient arrangement all round.

The stone contains another acrostic, on the same lines as the one in the chapel. Consistency was not a feature of Elizabethan spelling, and here is an alternative version of the family name:

Searching for St Alkmund

On September 12, 2023 By SteveIn People1 Comment

Few people outside the Midlands have heard of this Saxon saint, but in Derbyshire he is commemorated by two churches, a well and a street, besides being the patron saint of the city of Derby. As with many saints from the Saxon period it is hard to sort the legends from the facts, but apparently he was King of Northumbria in the late eighth century until he was forced to flee south into Mercia when a rival branch of his family took the throne. He was murdered by Northumbrian agents about 800 CE and buried in Shropshire, after which a cult grew up around his name due to his reputation for acts of charity.

His remains were removed to Derby in 1140 and reburied in the church dedicated to him, which had a Saxon foundation, near the modern Jury’s Inn hotel. This church was re-built in the mid-nineteenth century but demolished in 1968 as part of Derby’s inner ring road development. A stone plaque marks the site today. The only positive aspect of this piece of urban vandalism (widely criticised at the time) was the discovery of what is believed to be St Alkmund’s stone sarcophagus, a fine piece of Anglo-Saxon stone carving, now in Derby museum. We must assume that this was brought from Shropshire, along with the saint’s remains, in the twelfth century, though this must have been a difficult operation, weighing as it does about a ton. The most likely route would have been by river, as the church was only two hundred yards from the Derwent. Not far away from the church, at the bottom of Well Street, which runs off North Parade, is St Alkmund’s Well. Now protected by iron railings, this had a rural setting until the early nineteenth century as it was in St Helen’s park. Today it must be one of the few holy wells in an urban setting, and was at one time the focus of church procession and well dressing.

*Early postcard of St Alkmund’s Duffield*

St Alkmund’s in Derby was conveniently near Ryknield Street, the old Roman road, which would have allowed regional pilgrims to travel to the shrine, while only a few miles north is another church with the same rare dedication, at Duffield. Here the church is sited curiously detached from the town and close to the river. Although the present church building is post-Conquest, this must have been a Saxon foundation in what was originally a very large parish. It is thought that the church’s siting may have been due to the use of the Derwent for baptism, although this has also led to severe and quite regular flooding of the building.

Saints and sinners

On November 10, 2021February 4, 2024 By SteveIn People, Road users3 Comments

This figure from Youlgrave church is thought to represent a pilgrim, with his (or her) staff and waist-hung satchel. We often think of pilgrimage in terms of the great medieval shrines of Christianity such as Santiago or Canterbury, but during the high middle ages (about 1100 – 1300 CE) many pilgrimages must have been more local, perhaps within a day’s journey of the pilgrim’s home. In Derbyshire, abbeys such as Dale as well as churches like St Alkmund’s in Derby would have attracted pilgrims. The main draw was the burial place of a saint or the ownership of a holy relic, such as a flask of Mary’s milk.

Pilgrims hoped that being close to the remains of a holy person would benefit them in some way. Many were seeking a cure for an illness, often with the belief that a particular saint would help with certain conditions. Others might be making the journey as a penance, to compensate for some crime or misdemeanor. St Alkmund was a local saint who was murdered in Derby in the eighth century, and whose impressive stone sarcophagus can be seen in Derby Museum – the (rebuilt) church was demolished to make way for the city’s ring road.

Another local saint, although actually in Staffordshire, is St Bertram at Ilam near Ashbourne. He also lived in the Saxon period, becoming a hermit after his wife and child were eaten by wolves. One unusual feature of the church is that the shrine of the saint has survived, perhaps due to the remote location of the village. Most aspects of pilgrimage, such as shrines and relics, were removed during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Yet although discouraged, pilgrimage was hard to suppress, and saw an effective revival in the growth of spa towns such as Buxton in the eighteenth century.

In Britain there are few relics of pilgrimage, but in Catholic areas of Europe such as Spain or Bavaria it is possible to find displays of ex-votos such as the example above. These are often small paintings of a miracle rescue or healing brought about by the local saint, and given to the church in thanksgiving. In other places models of the afflicted body part, such as arm, foot or head, are displayed. Clearly, in an age of very limited medical knowledge, making a pilgrimage was often seen as an effective remedy.

Wells, springs and troughs

On September 17, 2021February 4, 2024 By SteveIn Rivers and bridges, Roadside features2 Comments

Travellers have always needed to drink, and so have their horses and dogs. Yet on the ancient ridgeways, crossing the limestone hills of north Derbyshire, there are few streams or ponds, and so providing drinking places has been critical. Stone troughs fed by springs are found by many old roads, though it is not clear who first installed them. The four horses needed to haul a stagecoach uphill for a mile or two would have needed a long drink by the time they reached the top of the climb.

Wells were another source of water, though usually designed just for human use. and more commonly found in villages. Well dressing is a famous Derbyshire custom, and is normally seen as a celebration of a reliable and plentiful water supply – possibly pre-Christian, although now, as the example above shows, co-opted by the Church. Wells have frequently given their name to streets, as with Coldwell Street in Wirksworth or Coldwell End in Youlgrave. Others were sanctified with a saint’s name, such as St Alkmund’s well above, or St Anne’s well in Buxton. It seems likely that the tradition of ‘holy wells’ pre-dates the Reformation in 1539, and in some cases the water from these wells was thought to have a healing value.

Today it seems shocking how long it took to provide a piped, clean water supply in many Derbyshire villages. Youlgrave was unusual in that it installed its stone reservoir in the centre of the village in 1829 (below), from which local wells such as the one above were supplied. Even today Youlgrave still has its own water supply, independent of Severn Trent. But right up to 1940 nearby Elton people relied on carrying water in buckets from a spring at Burycliffe, half a mile from the village.

The names of some old wells can be found on large-scale OS maps, for example Lady Wall Well, north of Baslow on the old route over the moor to Sheffield. Sadly, many of these have become filled with rubbish and are easily overlooked. Cleaning and renovating a local well would be a valuable project for a volunteer neighbourhood group, and help to preserve a link with the not-so-distant past.

The Old Roads of Derbyshire

Tag: St Alkmund

Acrostic Anthonie of the Frith

Searching for St Alkmund

Saints and sinners

Wells, springs and troughs