St Peter, Ellastone, Derbyshire

27/06/2015: The tower has an inset frieze reading KNOW THYSELFE (with a nice reversed N) and two doorways are headed by stones recording dates of 1586 and 1588. Attached to the south wall, outside, is a memorial to Bernard Granville, whose grandfather rejoiced in the name Sir Bevil Granville.

An otherwise unremarkable uprooted stone, presumably waiting to be reset in the ground, gave an unusual insight into how lettering was marked out on stones before a hammer and chisel were employed. A solitary capital B could be seen, in ink, on the part of the stone normally unseen, underground. More on this here.

The churchyard has a few stones with errors or other wayward lettering of course. More on headstone lettering errors here. Inside, the north east corner has a number of memorials and the effigy of Sir Richard Fleetwood, though much damaged. The church has mainly plain glass, after Cromwell, but the atmosphere in this corner is very warm and welcoming.

© Copyright Poor Frank Raw, 2016