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Derbyshire -
Place of Interest
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All Saints Church
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Dale Abbey, Stanton by Dale,
Derbyshire DE7 4PN
Tel: 0115 932 4584
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All Saints Church, Dale Abbey is the only church in England which shares
its roof with a farm. Apart from electrics and some old radiators the interior
has not been altered since around 1650 and retains its box pews. There is a
medieval wall painting and a leaning pulpit dated 1634. The communion table,
actually a Jacobean cupboard, is in front of the reading desk, whereas normally
it should be behind and there is in effect a three-decker pulpit arrangement.
In about 1485 the building next door to the church became the infirmary for the
nearby abbey and the church became the infirmary chapel, the sick
being brought through doors both downstairs and on the gallery
where they could see the service from the low balcony.
More recently the adjoining building became the Blue Ball Inn.
Clergy would robe in the inn and enter the church through
the downstairs door, blocked up in the 1820's but still clearly visible.
Dale Abbey used to be a `peculiar' and did not come under
the authority of the Diocesan Bishop. It had its own lay bishop,
Lord Stanhope, whose Episcopal throne is in the church. It was
thus Derbyshire's first cathedral.. There was a court at Dale with
the authority to issue licences for weddings, which meant that
banns did not have to read and so Dale became the Gretna Green of
the Midlands in the 17th and 18th centuries, with many weddings
being performed. There is a plaque in the church describing one of
the lay bishops. It is said to be the smallest Anglican church
in England still in regular use.
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 This
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