St. Anne's Church in Baslow - Part 1

A general view of the south elevation

When visiting St. Anne’s church in Baslow, I only had time to have a very quick look at its exterior and interior, and I only took a partial photographic record, before catching the Hulleys route 66 bus to Stoney Middleton - where I was going to take a good look at the Carboniferous Limestone and its associated vernacular architecture.

A general view from the north-east

Arriving back home after a very long day out, and starting to undertake some research, I was very surprised to discover that details of its construction history is generally lacking in my usual sources of information.

The east elevation of the chancel

Pevsner very surprisingly makes no mention of its date, and only refers to its site next to the River Derwent, the rebuilding of the chancel in 1911 and the extensive restoration by Sir Joseph Paxton and his son-in-law, G.H. Stokes, in 1853-1854.

A general view from the south-east

The Historic England listing refers to a C13 tower, a C15 porch roof, various C19 replacement windows and an unsubstantiated date of 1200 for the north aisle is proposed by Wikipedia, as the oldest part of the church.

A general view from the south-west

St. Anne’s church website also provides some information that is not found elsewhere, but the reliability of its sources are not known, with some of the dates conflicting with the more established authorities on the subject.

A general view of the west elevation

Although I had noticed distinct differences in the colours and textures of the sandstones, as well as variations in the size, shape and regularity of the courses of the masonry, I considered that the observations that I had made of this church didn’t provide me with enough information to properly analyse its construction history.

A general view of the tower

Taking advantage of another sunny day towards the end of March, and the regular 218 bus that serves Chatsworth House and Bakewell, I went to have another look at St. Anne’s church a couple of days later – when I had the time to take more notice of the architectural details that are of interest to the standing buildings archaeologist.

A general view of the north elevation