All Saints Bakewell - The Interior

Information for tourists at All Saints church in Bakewell

When visiting All Saints church in Bakewell, I spent less than half an hour exploring its interior – including the porch – taking only a few quick snaps of the general layout and a few details and, with my objective being to take a much closer look at the Vernon Chapel, I missed several points of interest that are highlighted in the official guide that I purchased.

A general view of the nave and chancel

To the west bay of the nave and in the west wall, tall round arches are from the original Norman church and the surrounding walling may include Anglo-Saxon masonry, but the other parts of the arcades were rebuilt in 1852 with round piers, octagonal capitals and cavetto-moulded arches.

A  general view of the nave and west wall

Along the walls of the north aisle, several early mediaeval grave slabs have been embedded into the masonry and in the chancel, a large sedilia and a piscina are incorporated into the remaining 13th century walls, and various decorative stones can be seen in wall memorials of a later date and the steps to the altar provide a good example of the use of Ashford Black Marble.

The font

The octagonal early 14th century font is carved with figures and appears to be made from a pale coloured limestone, with a sandstone base, and it is surrounded by a polished stone tile floor in a chess board pattern, with Ashford Black limestone alternating with Italian white Carrara marble.

Various wall memorials

Of particular note is the small alabaster wall monument to Sir Godfrey Foljambe and his wife, which is found at the east end of the south aisle. According to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, who gives a date of 1385, it is apparently the only surviving mediaeval example of a style of wall monument that was very popular in the late 16th century onwards, as seen in Wentworth and Chesterfield.

The memorial to Sir Geoffrey Foljambe