EDENSOR is a township, parish and village, just outside Chatsworth park, 3 miles from Hassop station on the Midland section of the London, Midland and Scottish railway, 2½ east-north-east from Bakewell and 8½ from Matlock, in the Western division of the county, hundred of High Peak, rural district petty sessional division, county court district and rural deanery of Bakewell, archdeaconry and diocese of Derby.

The church of St. Peter, standing on an eminence and approached by a flight of steps, was almost entirely rebuilt under the direction of Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. in 1867, the whole of the new work being in the Decorated style. It consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south punch, bell-cote on the eastern gable of the nave and a tower at the west end with lofty broach spire, containing 6 bells, partly recast from the former 4 bells in 1867, one of which, dated 1669, is now hung over the stables at Chatsworth.

The nave is separated from the aisles by arcades of four arches, several of these, as well as the ancient Norman columns, being part of the original church. The Decorated east window retains much of its ancient tracery. The south porch, with its embattled parapet, belongs chiefly to the same period, but retains portions of Norman work, and several ancient slabs, with incised crosses, have been built into it.

The interior has remains of piscinæ, and there are modern sedilia. The font, as well as the pulpit, is constructed of different tinted marbles from the estates of the Duke of Devonshire. With the exception of an early nameless slab in the porch, there are now no monuments of the pre-Reformation period, but in the Cavendish chapel is the singular but fine monument to Henry Cavendish M.P. Derbyshire, ob. 1616, and Sir William Cavendish K.B. first Earl of Devonshire, ob. 3 March, 1625; this includes a projecting altar tomb, beneath which are two figures, one a skeleton and the other wrapped in a winding sheet.

Mythological figures, arms, robes and other accessories are placed above and on either side. There is also a memorial to the Rev, Joseph Hall, vicar here 1855-1907. Against the north wall of the chancel is a brass, with inscription and effigy to James Boton, Comptroller of the Household to Mary Queen of Scots, who died while the Queen was a prisoner at Chatsworth House, in 1570, aged 32; the brass was erected by his brothers, James, Archbishop of Glasgow, and Andrew, Ambassador to France.

On the north side is a brass to Mr. John Philips, of Chatsworth (1735) and in the chancel is a memorial window to Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish, P.C., M.P. Chief Secretary for Ireland, assassinated in Phoenix park, Dublin, 6 May, 1882, and interred in the graveyard of this village, where there is also a memorial stone, placed in May, 1883.

In the church on the north wall is an alabaster tablet, erected in 1922, in memory of parishioners who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. It has a carved frame bearing the coloured crests of the regiments; a riband resting on bay leaves runs from each crest and on it are carved the names of the places where the men fell. The crest of the Sherwood Foresters is the central top one, and the other crests and names of places follow round the frame near the names of the men with which they are connected. The whole tablet is set in black marble extending to the floor space below, and is enclosed with railings.

There is an alabaster aumbry, added in 1927, containing the memorial roll of the 18th Sherwood Foresters (Chatsworth Rifles), whose colours hang near the memorial roll. An oak frontal case in memory of the Rev. & Mrs. W. Vale Bagshawe is in the Cavendish chapel, and was given by their children. A brass memorial tablet on the organ is in memory of Albert Ernest Wragg who was for 50 years the organist. There are 250 sittings.

The register dates from the year 1540, and is in fair condition. The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire K.G., P.C., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., T.D. (lord lieut.), net yearly value £400, and held since 1918 by the Rev. William Horace Foster Pegg M.A. of University College, Oxford.

There are charities of £51 annual value, consisting of Gisborne's, of £8 13s. 4d. given in flannel, and Philips', of £44, half of which is given to the poor of the ecclesiastical parish of Edensor, the other half being equally divided between the schools of Edensor and Ault Hucknall; a few smaller charities, amounting to about £1 4s. are distributed in Pilsley township. The Duke of Devonshire K.G., P.C., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O., T.D. is the lord of the manor and sole landowner.

The soil is light grit; subsoil, gritstone. The land is principally in pasture. The area of the township is 2,311 acres of land (tithe free) and 25 of water; the population of the civil parish in 1921 was 208, and of the ecclesiastical 443.

PILSLEY is a township, situated on an eminence, from which beautiful and extensive views are obtained of the surrounding country. The area is 465 acres. The population in 1921 was 187.

Calton Lees, 1½ miles north from Rowsley, and Dunsa are places here.
Post, M.O., T. & T.E.D. Office. Letters thro' Bakewell

Post & Tel. Call Office, Pilsley.- Letters through Bakewell.
Edensor nearest M.O. & T. office