Alvaston St. Michael and All Angels'
The church after the re-building of 1856
Note by John Blaylock
It may help the reader to be aware that St. Michael and All Angels', Alvaston was a chapelry to the parish church of St. Michael, Derby, until the year 1865. With both parish church and chapel being dedicated to St. Michael, the following text of Dr. J. Charles Cox needs to be read with care so as to avoid confusing the two.
The Chapelry of Alvaston
(Page 137)
The gift to Darley Abbey of the church of S. Michael, by William Fitzralph, included the chapel of Alvaston. Geoffrey Alselin held the manor of Alvaston, as well as Elvaston, etc., at the time of the Domesday Survey, but by some means it soon afterwards passed to Fitzralph. His daughter, Edelina, was the first wife of Hubert Fitzralph, Baron of Crich,* and brought to her husband the manor of Alvaston. Their daughter and heiress, Juliana, married Anker de Frecheville,† and the earliest extended information pertaining to Alvaston church or chapel, that we have met with, relates to Anker de Frecheville, their grandson. The Frechevilles appear to have laid claim to the advowson, and in 1257 an agreement was entered into, between Walter de Walton, abbot of Darley, and Anker de Frecheville, by which the latter consents to recognise the church of Alvaston '' tanquam capell' pertinentem ad matricem Ecclesiam suam Sci Michael Derb'," and the abbot gives Anker 15 marks for freely giving up his claim.±
In 1262 a memorandum was drawn up between the abbot of Darley and the prior of Shelford, respecting the tithes of Elvaston and Alvaston, the former as rectors of Alvaston, and the latter as rectors of Elvaston. The point at issue was with respect to a field called Mulnefield, which seems to have been partly in the parish of Elvaston and partly in that of S. Michael's. It is described as being on the east of the way called Nunnedik, leading from the town of Alvaston to the mill of Burchmulne. The matter was referred to the arbitration of John de Weston, and William, rector of the church of S. Michael, Nottingham, who delivered their decision in the church of All Saints, Derby, on
* See the previous account of Crich.
† Nichols' Collectanea, vol. i., p. i, etc.
± Darley Chartulary, Cole MSS., vol. xxi., p. 179.
12 March, 2004
