The tranquillity of this delightful little church owes much to its setting and the absence of through traffic, for road signs advise that King Sterndale is a dead end. This should not be taken too literally, certainly as far as Christ Church is concerned. Many parishes would envy the affection in which it is held by its worshippers; the late **Dr Joyce Critchlow preached here regularly and missed only one Sunday service between 1944 and 1997. Joyce, who died in December 2003 and is buried here, held a deep love for ‘every stick and stone of this place’ and it was she who provided generous information when we first wrote about the church ten years ago.

Christ Church was completed and licensed for divine worship in 1847. The parish of Christ Church was formed four years later out of the parishes of Bakewell, Hope and Hartington. Originally within the Diocese of Lichfield, the parish was annexed to the See of Southwell in 1884 and transferred to the Diocese of Derby in 1927. King Sterndale had its own incumbent until 1943 and has subsequently been served by the Buxton Team Ministry.

There would have been no church without the efforts of the Pickford family, a name known nationwide for household removals and transport operations. Generations of Pickfords lived at King Sterndale Hall, formerly known with some understatement as The Cottage. Thomas Pickford was in residence in the mid-19th century and it was his sister-in-law, Miss Ellen Hawkins of Rock Head at Cowdale, who set about providing King Sterndale with a church. Not only did she raise the building costs of £1,034, but further sums totalling almost £2,000 to provide an endowment fund and a parsonage.

Amongst the impressive list of subscribers were the Queen Dowager (who gave £20), and titled contributors led by the Duke of Devonshire, Lady Fitzherbert, many churchmen and professional gentlemen, including Bishop Spencer and Dr Darwin, and representatives of the Pickford family. A portion of their own parkland was given as a site for the church and the road from Heathfield Nook was diverted to give access.

Christ Church is built in the Early English style of local stone under a stone slab roof which supports a bellcote and chimney. With seating for 120, the building consists of a chancel, nave, vestries and south porch. A stone memorial cross to four local men who fell in the First World War stands outside the south wall whilst two wooden seats offer rest and quiet reflection on the north side of the churchyard. The Pickford graves lie in two rows at the east end. Below the central east window lies Frank H. Sloman who was priest here for only 11 months prior to his untimely death in 1927.

A Quiet Beauty Bearing in mind that King Sterndale stands about 1,100 feet above sea-level, there is nothing bleak or chilly about its church. The carpet and hassocks share a warm, red colour but it is the beautiful stained glass which constantly draws the eye, the most vibrant being the Ascension at the west end. Opposite the entrance door a memorial window to Harriet Hombersley (1820-1898), daughter of Thomas Pickford, portrays in shades of pale gold St Agnes in glory above a cameo of her execution. A window depicting St Peter commemorates Charles Hampden Pickford (1816-1882). A third window in the north wall illustrates a Soldier of Christ as a memorial to Edward Todd Pickford who died in 1878. On the opposite wall Thomas Edward Pickford (1809-1859) has a memorial window showing an angel.

An interesting choice of subject is shown in the glass commemorating the Reverend Robert Hall Main. Above the family arms of Main stands the figure of George Herbert, priest and poet, dressed in long black robes and buckled shoes and holding his violin. The three-light east window was installed by friends of Mary Ada Pickford (1884-1934), younger daughter of Lord Sterndale. Designed by Caroline Townsend and containing her motif of a small bird, the window shows the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan and the Sower and the Reaper, linked by pastoral scenes of sheep and lambs. Mary Ada Pickford was one of the first women MPs and has another memorial window in the south wall which shows the Houses of Parliament. A brass memorial tablet was given by The Women's Branch of Young Britons of the North Hammersmith Conservative Association.

Caroline Townsend also designed the window commemorating William Pickford (1848-1923), Lord Sterndale, Privy Councillor and Master of the Rolls. Its subjects are Thomas More and a cameo of Chelsea Old Church, one of Lord Sterndale's places of worship. Ellen Hawkins, foundress of King Sterndale church, has a handsome mural monument in the chancel in the form of a brass cross inlaid in marble. A brass tablet in the nave recalls the Hon. Dorothy Pickford (d.1971) as ‘An Unfailing Friend’. Fellow worshippers of Colonel Harry Sowler and the Hon. Eirene Sowler subscribed to their brass memorial, while another plaque commemorates Alexandra Mitchell, a faithful worshipper here for 70 years.

Christ Church clearly inspires strong loyalties; many former worshippers are commemorated in gifts including a tree and a seat in the churchyard, church wardens' staffs, a psalm board, brass altar cross, the Orders for Holy Communion, stone flower vase and a brass jug for the font. The pulpit and lectern were installed in memory of Kezia Charlotte Perkins and are fine examples of the work of Advent Hunstone of Tideswell, renowned for his ecclesiastical woodcarving.

We leave Christ Church with a timeless invitation extended by Joyce Critchlow[*]: ‘Everyone is welcome, so come and say a prayer - for yourself or for another - and feel in your own soul the quiet beauty of this place’.

[*] Joyce CRITCHLOW (1944 - 2003)

© Julie Bunting
From "The Peak Advertiser", 19th November 2007.