History of St Edmund's
This information, and a shorter visitor sheet, is available as a pdf to download (scroll down to the end of the text) and is also available in church.
St Edmund's Church
St Edmund's Church was originally called the Church of Peak Castle and was probably built by William Peveril the Elder or his son, as a garrison chapel for the soldiers in Peveril Castle, although some Anglo-Saxon artefacts suggest there was something here even earlier. We don't know exactly when, or why, it was dedicated to St Edmund, but it was probably not earlier than the 14th century. Over a thousand years, St Edmund's Church has witnessed much history and been added to and changed according to the tastes of the time.
The church is a Grade II listed building dating from the 12th century. Peveril began building the perimeter wall for the castle in 1086, the same year as the Domesday Book, and the village of Castleton grew up from the base of the hill, within a protective earthwork called the Town Ditch with the church being built on a mound within this enclosure. Therefore it seems likely that the church dates to around the last decade of the 11th century or the first decade of the 12th century.
The best reminder of the first Norman building is the magnificent, finely formed chancel arch within the church, decorated with traditional Norman zigzag patterns. The font at the west end of the chancel is also Norman.
The nave roof is decorated with bosses bearing the portcullis symbol of the Duchy of Lancaster, dating to the 18th century. The pew lamps are 19th century oil lamps which were converted to electricity in 1964. Our beautiful blue ceiling looks down on fascinating box pews with 17th and 18th century dates carved on their dark oak doors, together with the names of families who sat there.
We have some stained glass, including a Kempe window in the chancel. In the north window nearest the chancel arch, see if you can find our sole fragment of medieval glass, in the shape of a small angel, a figure of a saint thought to be from the 14th century. This has recently been authenticated and will be added to CMVA (Corpus Vitrearum Medi Aevi) and is the first medieval glass discovered in Derbyshire since the early 1990s.
We also recently discovered a fragment of wall painting which we hope to explore further when funds allow.
Our bells are a ring of eight designed in a novel shape by James Harrison of Barton-on-Humber, brother of the more famous Henry of chronometer and longitudinal fame.
Who was St Edmund?
St Edmund, also known as St Edmund the Martyr, was the first patron saint of England for about 400 years, before St George became England's patron saint.
Born on Christmas Day AD841, Edmund became the King of East Anglia in AD855. Together with King Alfred, Edmund fought against the Viking and Norse invaders until he was captured in approximately AD870. He was offered his freedom, with permission to continue to rule, if he would renounce his Christian faith. St Edmund refused. After he refused a second time, he was executed by being tied to a tree and shot with arrows - to wound but not to kill - before being beheaded on 20th November.
St Edmund's head was reputed to have been found by a wolf. St Edmund's supporters heard a wolf call to them, and found him guarding the King's head, which was reunited with his body. The body and head were fused back together. This was the first of many miracles.
Exactly where St Edmund was killed is not known, but in AD902 his remains were reburied in Beodericsworth, which became Bury St Edmunds. A religious community was given the task of caring for St Edmund's Shrine as the Abbey of St Edmund's, which became a place of national and international pilgrimage, and one of the most famous and wealthy pilgrimage sites in England. The shrine was destroyed by Henry VIII, at the dissolution of the monasteries, and St Edmund's remains disappeared. Although there are various theories about what happened to the remains, their location is still a mystery.
St Edmund's Day is 20th November.
Castleton is one of more than 60 churches across England dedicated to St Edmund.