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Churches in Hartshorne

St Peters Church

There has been a church on the site since the beginning of the fourteenth century, although it is likely that it was a place of worship before that time. The Church was first mentioned in the Episcopal Register of 1303 and the tower was added during the fifteenth century.

Only the tower remains of the original church, the main body being rebuilt in 1835, although the font is believed to be fourteenth century and two of the five bells pre-date the Reformation.

There is a large oak chest with nine iron clasps and a silver paten of about 1480, which is believed to be one of the oldest pieces of plate in the county.

The fine altar tomb has alabaster figures of Sir Humphry Dethick and his wife (1599) and along the front reliefs of three sons and three daughters. It was one of the Dethicks who went to Cleves to find a fourth wife for Henry VIII and his son William laid a pall of rich velvet on the coffin of Mary Queen of Scots. In 1624 the Rev. William Dethick bequeathed £100 to the parishes of Newhall and Hartshorne.

In 1799 one Stebbings Shaw became Rector. He was a melancholy character who could often be seen wandering about the church grounds talking to himself. He had ambitions to be a writer, travelled extensively in Scotland and was-joint editor of the 'Topographer'. In 1788 he published a book of his travels, but it failed, adding to his depression. However, he did make a valuable contribution to the recorded history of South Derbvshire

Source: Hartshorne Then and Now: A pictorial history of the village, Complied by Brian Robinson, Published by Hartshorne Parish Council, 2000, p 7.

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