<< Our Photo Pages >> St Mary the Virgin (Wirksworth) - Early Christian Sculptured Stone in England in Derbyshire
Submitted by TimPrevett on Saturday, 27 May 2006 Page Views: 14463
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Mary the Virgin (Wirksworth) Alternative Name: The Wirksworth Stone, T'Owd Man of Bonsall (separate carving)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.977 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Derbyshire Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone
Nearest Town: Wirksworth
Map Ref: SK2874853942
Latitude: 53.081931N Longitude: 1.572282W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 17th Sep 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Anglo Saxon Stones at St. Mary The Virgin, Wirksworth, Derbyshire: My husband's father had died unexpectedly last week and we were down sorting out the funeral and his house. It all got a bit too much, and I asked to 'run away' for the afternoon to do something different. Funny, we'd nearly bought a house here in the early 1980's, on the hills just outside the town, but never really explored this pretty little market town with its boutique shops.
We found the church behind the shops opposite the market square in a pretty oval shaped churchyard. It was much bigger than expected, feeling light and airy - more like a mini-cathedral - and with what Anglo Saxon treasures.
There were groups of stones built into the walls - by the north door, the walls of the south transept and the south western part of the nave.
The church offered a good guide book, but most useful was the 'treasure trail' for children along with the laminated guide sheet which showed the locations of the stones with a short description.
As I only had the camera on my phone we decided to go back with the camera proper, but time has run away with us and we never did get to go back. Thanks to modern technology the phone on my camera is better than the mini digital camera I usually carry with me.
An 8th to 9th Century coffin lid, in fantastic condition. located in the wall of the North Nave Aisle. Many other fragments, some possibly Saxon, are also built into the church fabric on the north wall of the North Transept (both sides of the door), and also in the South Transept. Other figures and engravings are visible if you look carefully (including Towd Man of Bonsall, a figure of a lead miner removed from the Church at Bonsall.
Another figure of interest is the T'owd Man of Bonsall, removed from Bonsall Church a few miles away. It depicts a lead miner, and is early mediaeval in date; T'owd Man can also refer to a spirit of mines of caves.
This is the second earliest known Christian site in Derbyshire, with a church having been on the site since the 7th Century. Access subject to church opening and services.
Some details about the church and the carved fragments (including the Wirksworth Stone) can be found on Historic England List ID 1335090 and Pastscape Monument No. 1517943. The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for The Wirksworth Stone, St Mary’s Church, Wirksworth, Derbyshire, which includes directions for finding the church, together with drawings, descriptions and a list of reference material for more information.
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