Peak Experience

It has been claimed that a stone in the previous church here was engraved with the date AD cccccc – showing that the church was founded in the 600s.  In fact, it is unlikely that there was one here until the 1300s.  Legend says, that that church was made of wickerwork.

 

A picture of osmaston church  A picture of a gargoyle

 

The wickerwork church was demolished around 1843 to make way for this, the first church in Derbyshire built in the medieval Gothic style.  The famous architect H.I. Stevens designed this new church and it was considered radical for its time and place.  It has a sweeping, ornate manner and reflects Stevens’ interest in the principles of the Oxford Movement which sought to bring back the medieval traditions of mystery and spirituality in worship.

 

In 1650, the Parliamentary Commissioners remarked that the curate was ‘a man insufficient and scandalous’.

 

The church is not kept open.