Reveal, Revell, Revill Study
Alfreton, Derbyshire
Alfreton is recorded in the Charter of endowment of Burton Abbey by Wulfric Spott, in the year 1002, when the manor, or a portion of it, was bestowed upon that Monastery. At the time of the Domesday Survey, the lands at Alfreton had reverted into lay hands, and were held by Ingram under Roger de Busli. The Domesday Book contains no reference to a church and the first notice of one occurs at the endowment of Beauchief Abbey in the reign of Henry II. This Abbey founded, between the years 1172 and 1176, by Robert FitzRanulph, who was Lord of Alfreton and Norton. He gave to the Abbey the churches of Alfreton and Norton, in Derbyshire, Edwalton in Nottinghamshire, and Wimeswold in Leicestershire. Robert FitzRanulph was immediately descended from Ingram, and his descendants subsequently adopted the name of their principal manor of Alfreton.
The Ormond-Chaworth monument in Alfreton Church reads:
Here lies John Ormond, Esquire, and Joan his wife, the daughter and heiress of William Chaworth, Knight, the son and heir of Thomas Chaworth, Knight, the son and heir of William Chaworth, Knight, and of Alice his wife, daughter and heiress of John Caltofte, Knight, the relative and heir of John Brett, Knight, and of the daughter of Katharine, sister of the said John Brett; and the said William Chaworth, the son of Thomas, is also the son and heir of Isabella, the wife of the said Thomas, one of the daughters and heiresses of Thomas Aylisbury, Knight, the son and heir of John Aylisbury, Knight, the son and heir of Thomas Aylisbury, Knight, and Joan his wife, one of the daughters and heiresses of Ralph, Lord of Bassett of Welldon ; and the said Isabella is also the daughter of Katharine, the wife of the said Thomas Aylisbury, Knight, son and heir of Lawrence Pabeuham, Knight, and Elizabeth his wife, one of the daughters and heiresses of John, Lord of Eugayne ; which said John Ormond died the 5th day of the month October, in the year of our Lord 1503, and in the 19th year of Henry VII, King of England; and the said Joan died on the 29th day of the month August, in the year of our Lord 1507 On whose souls may God have mercy Amen.
John Ormond(d1503) m. 1485, Joan Chaworth, heiress to the manors of Medbourne, Leics, and Marnham, Notts and Alfreton. They had three daughter:
- Joan m1.Thomas Dynham (d. 1519), of Eythorpe, Buckinghamshire, m2. William Fitzwilliam (d. at Milton 9 August 1534) of Gains Park, Essex and Milton, Northamptonshire
- Elizabeth(d1505) m. 1498, Sir Anthony Babington (1476-1536) of Dethick, Derbyshire, son and heir of Thomas Babington of Dethick and Edith Fitzherbert. Issue, two sons
- Anne m.Sir William Mering of Mering, Nottinghamshire
The descendants of Robert Fitz Ranulph, the probable founder of the church at Alfreton, took the name of "de Alfreton," and on the death of his great grandson, Thomas de Alfreton, the manor descended in 1269 to his nephew Thomas de Chaworth. This Thomas was a considerable benefactor to the Abbey of Beauchief, and was of sufficient importance, according to Dugdale, to be summoned to Parliament as a baron. Future members of this family, especially Thomas (the son of William and Alice mentioned on this monument), still further endowed the Abbey with lauds in Alfreton, Norton, Greenhill, Woodseats, and other places in Derbyshire. William Chaworth, and his daughter carried the manor to Ormond in the reign of Henry VII. From thence it passed immediately by marriage to Anthony Babington. His grandson, Henry Babington, sold the manor about 1565, to John Zouch, of Codnor.
The son of John Zouch sold it to Robert Sutton, of Aram, in Nottinghamshire, by whom it was sold to Anthony Morewood, whose tomb is in this church.
The advowson of the church seems to have remained with Beauchief Abbey until the dissolution of the monasteries, when the rectory of Alfreton, together with the advowson of the vicarage, was granted to Francis Leake by Henry VIII., whose descendant, Nicholas, Earl of Scarsdale, sold them in 1673, to John Turner, of Swanwick. The lands pertaining to the chantry had been granted by Edward VI. to Thomas, son of Anthony Babington. The rectorial tithes were sold by auction in 1779, by the trustees of George Turner, chiefly to the several landowners, and the advowson of the vicarage was purchased by the Morewood family.
The Chapelry of Riddings
The Manor of Riddings (Ryddings, Ryddyng, or Rydinge), within the parish of Alfreton, was formerly held with Alfreton, by the Chaworth family. Riddings was an ancient chapelry, but little is known of it than that it was dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen in the Will of Hugh Revel, of Shirland.
Wolley Charters relating to Alfreton
References:Notes on Churches of Old Derbyshire
National Archives