St Alkmund’s Church Demolition 1968

Text from Derby Telegraph 11th November 2019

In 1968, at the behest of Derby Corporation who employed him, local historian and speaker Derek Palmer was tasked with the demolition of St Alkmund’s Church in Bridge Gate. The following article relies on notes and photographs made at the time by Derek himself.

It is worth noting that Derek was employed by the council and was tasked by it to demolish many buildings of historical and cultural importance within the then town centre. While fully aware of the significance of these buildings, and his own personal regret at their loss, he had a job to do and, had he not done it, someone else would have.

The only thing he could do was to record and photograph as much of the events as possible. Fortunately, these records survive to this day.

When the decision was made to demolish St Alkmund’s to make way for the new inner ring road, Derek recalled feelings of regret due, in no small part, to the fact he was christened in that church and he and his wife, Jean, were married there in 1951. But, as he said, it was his job and it had to be done.

This demolition was more difficult than most in that the spire was one of the highest in the UK and a very large burial ground surrounded the site.

The tower problem was solved by employing a team of steeplejacks from Kettering who very generously offered Derek a trip to the top of their scaffolding to admire the view and, though not afraid of heights, he told me with a wry smile the experience stayed with him for some time!

With regard to the burial ground, a list of all the graves had to be compiled and the surviving relatives were contacted. These people were given the option of moving the grave contents privately or allowing the council to do the job.

All of the gravestones and memorials were taken to Nottingham Road Council Depot for collection by relatives if they wished. The graves were all excavated and the remains taken to Nottingham Road Cemetery and placed in one grave, which now has a communal headstone. Looking at what remains of the church site today, most of the burial ground is still visible, so maybe the graves could have been left where they were.

St Alkmund’s stood on the site of several places of worship dating back to Roman, Saxon and even Viking times, as was verified by the many artefacts found during the archaeological dig supervised by Dr Radford (Courtenay Arthur Raleigh Radford, a noted archaeologist) and his team before the demolition. He said at the time that it was very rare three churches which stood on the same site could be excavated and nearly a thousand years of archaeological items were found during an excavation that went down eight feet below the floor of the existing church.

By far his most important find was a Saxon coffin, or sarcophagus, in which St Alkmund had been buried. It was empty, the contents possibly removed when the church was rebuilt in 1840/41. This sarcophagus now forms an important exhibit in Derby Museum. (Dr Radford was also heard to say it was worth knocking down St Alkmund’s just to find the sarcophagus!)

Alkmund was the king of Northumbria’s son and died whilst fighting the Danes at Lillishall in Shropshire. While taking his remains back to Northumberland, the party stopped in Derby and rested at a small spring outside the town. For some reason, it was decided to bury his remains close by, as Derby had become a strong Saxon settlement and, soon after, a church was built on the site. There had thus been a church of some sort on the site for well over 900 years.

(Image: Richard Wood)

Whilst Derek was demolishing the church, a search was instigated for the remains of Joseph Wright, Derby’s world famous artist (1735-97). The gravestone was discovered two and a half feet down in the centre of the aisle at what was the original floor level of the previous church. Obviously, in 1840, it wasn’t deemed necessary to raise the gravestone. Under the stone were several sets of remains. Records show his wife, 16 year-old son, infant son and possibly his brother were also buried there. All of these remains were passed to the council’s parks and cemeteries department and the headstone moved for storage at Nottingham Road depot.

These remains were subsequently buried in a communal grave with the others found at St Alkmund’s.

After years of neglect and movement, Derek spotted the headstone along with a pile of rubble outside St Werburgh’s Church in the Wardwick. He informed the council and letters appeared in the Derby Evening Telegraph resulting in the stone being placed initially outside the cathedral before finding its rightful place inside, close to the memorial to Bess of Hardwick. Thanks, once again, to Derek’s intervention.

Surrounding St Alkmund’s on three sides was Derby’s only remaining Georgian square, which contained some very interesting old houses as well as two pubs, the Lamb Inn and the Eagle and Child. Earlier, there had been another pub called the Golden Lion, as well as a bookmaker’s, a second-hand shop and a fish and chip shop. All long gone now and replaced by the inner ring road and its landscaping.

There was another burial ground belonging to St Alkmund’s in Darley Lane, on the corner of River Street and Handyside Street. It was turned into a recreation ground in 1932 and set out with lawns and seats, as well as a hut for the keeper, who would lend people a book to read while they were sitting.

The graves were still there but the gravestones were removed and propped up against the wall. This conversion was paid for by the Haslam family, who lived at Breadsall Priory and owned a factory in City Road. In the 1960s, the graves and gravestones were removed and the site levelled. It was made into a playground for St Mary’s School but now stands empty.

Derek was far more than an employee demolishing historical buildings. Were it not for him, many records, artefacts and items of incredible significance would have been lost forever.

Below is the same old map overlayed onto a modern satellite view.

(Image: Derek Palmer)